The Election Commission has proposed for allocation of Tk 11.24 billion in the upcoming budget for procuring electronic voting machines (EVMs).
In its proposal forwarded to the Finance Division, the Commission has sought an allocation of Tk11.41 billion in development budget for the next 2019-20 fiscal years, according to officials.
The total allocation for the next fiscal sought by the EC stands at Tk 19.20 billion, which includes an operation cost of Tk 7.79 billion.
“We have already sent our budget for the next fiscal to the finance ministry. We are pursuing the additional Tk 11.24 billion. If it’s not included in the budget, then we will seek it separately,” EC Additional Secretary Mokhlesur Rahman told Bangla Tribune.
The EC said in its budget proposal that it will need Tk 3.1 billion for conducting elections in the next fiscal, which included the city polls in Dhaka cities and Chattogram.
Meanwhile, the EC was allotted Tk 2.1 billion in the ongoing 2018-19 fiscal, which was increased to Tk 14.65 billion, which included Tk 7.97 billion for buying EVMs, in the revised budget.
Besides that, the Tk 2 billion allocations for the project ‘Identification System for Enhancing Access to Service’ was also revised up to Tk 6.58 billion.
Another Tk 97.2 million was allotted for the training of EC officials on EVMs.
Sources at the Commission say that Tk 19.21 billion deal has been already signed with Bangladesh Machine Tool Factory (BMTF) for 82,000 EVMs. The EC had issued the work order without the funding, which led the proposal for Tk 11.24 billion in the upcoming fiscal.
In July 2018, the EC adopted a Tk 38.25 billion project to procure 150,000 EVMs, which is set to be completed by June 2023.