A fire has broken out at the godown of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) of the Election Commission (EC) office in Dhaka, authorities say.
The fire started at the basement of the EC's office in the capital's Agargaon around 11:06am on Sunday (Sept 9), Kamrul Hasan, duty officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defense control room, told Bangla Tribune.
Twelve firefighting units from nearby fire stations rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control around 12:25pm on Monday (Sept 9), said Debashish Bardhan, Deputy Director (Dhaka division) of the fire service.
EC Secretary Md Alamgir Hossain said the fire caught the rooms where EVMs and other necessary equipment had been kept stored.
A three member-committee led by an additional secretary will be formed to assess the damage and the panel will report in three days, he added.
No details on how many EMVs have been stored or damaged during the fire were available immediately.
According to the fire service official, Bardhan there was a large chunk of paper cartoons at the basement causing a huge smoke.
Cause of the fire could not be known immediately, he added.
Fire service also formed a separate panel to find out the reason behind fire and assess the damage.
The three-member panel will report in two weeks, Bardhan said.
In reply to a query, the EC secretary, however, ruled out any possibility of hampering the Rangpur 3 by-polls, slated for Oct 8, for the EVM damage caused by the fire.
“There are separate stocks of EVMs at different districts including Rangpur,”  Hossain said.