There will be no legitimacy if major political parties do not participate in the upcoming Jatiya Sangshad polls, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said today.

"If the big parties do not participate at all, there will be a crisis in the legality of the elections. The legitimacy may go down to zero. We have to understand the difference between legality and legitimacy. The election can be legal, but it may not be legitimate," the CEC said while talking to journalists on Thursday (6 April).

He said the biggest challenge the Election Commission faces is whether all or major parties will participate in the upcoming national polls or not.

"EVM or ballot is not a big challenge in our elections. The biggest challenge in our elections is the political crisis that prevails. Whether all or major parties will participate in the election or not, that is a big challenge," he added.

The CEC also said, "Ensuring 100% fair voting is not possible with either EVM or ballot paper. But we also maintained that it was safer to use EVM than ballots."

Earlier, emphasising the voting security of EVMs, the CEC had said it was impossible for even "Albert Einstein to change the actual voting result" through the machines.

"Critics say the result of the electric voting can be changed in the last ten minutes. But it is impossible, not even Einstein can do this job in ten minutes," he told reporters in February. 

In March, Awal said the elections conducted with EVMs are reliable so far and no complaint has yet been received regarding their use. 

The CEC also said, "Ensuring 100% fair voting is not possible with either EVM or ballot paper. We always maintained that voting through EVMs is safer than ballot paper."

Earlier in February while emphasising the security features of the EVM, Awal said, "Critics say the result of electric voting can be changed in the last ten minutes. But it is impossible, not even Einstein can do this job in ten minutes."

Amid a budget crunch, the Election Commission on Monday announced that no EVMs would be used in any of the 300 constituencies in the next parliamentary election. 

The EC had earlier announced the plan of using EVMs in 150 seats following several dialogues with a number of political parties.

"Due to the non-availability of funds for the purchase of EVMs, the uncertainty of getting Tk1,200 crore needed to repair the existing EVMs, and objection from most of the political parties, the commission may have changed its decision on EVMs," said EC Secretary Jahangir Alam after a meeting of the EC on Monday.