Election Commissioner Md Alamgir has said 17 political parties have given opinion favouring the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the upcoming national election.

"The Election Commission has taken the decision to use EVMs in 150 constituencies in the upcoming national polls taking into consideration the written statements and video clips of the political parties who favoured the system during talks with the commission," said the commissioner while talking to media Sunday (18 September).

He further said, the commission is sure of the fact that EVMs cannot be tampered with for vote rigging. 

"Many have said that they want the use of EVM in polls if there is no possibility of vote rigging with the system," he added. 

Mentioning that the commission has all the video clips of the meetings it held with the political parties, he said, "We have crosschecked the statements and footages trice and decided to use EVM in the polls based on the opinions of the political parties."

The EC held dialogues with 28 registered political parties out of the total 39 in July last. Nine political parties, including BNP and its alliance, boycotted the dialogue while two failed to take part.

Earlier on Saturday (17 September), some experts opined that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are safe and cannot be tampered with for vote rigging.