The High Court has cleared the way for Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to be used in the Dhaka City corporations polls slated for Feb 1.

The bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Khairul Alam on Sunday (Jan 26) scrapped a plea challenging the legality of EVMs.

On Jan 9, Supreme Court lawyer Yunus Ali Akond filed the writ challenging the legality of EVMs.

Secretaries to the president’s office, Cabinet and law ministry and Anti Corruption Commission chairman were made respondents to the petition.

According to the writ, the EVM law was not cleared by the Parliament and is not mandatory by section-26 of the Representation of the People’s Order (RPO).

Moreover, its usage is in conflict with section-97 of the Constitution that says, an Ordinance can be made only if the Parliament stands dissolved or is not in session, it said.

The petition also said that EVMs were used in six centres during national polls in 2018 but the elections were not acceptable.

Akond said that section-65 of the Constitution provisions casting votes through ballots and not machines.