Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will not be used in the national election amid a budget crunch.

The voting will be carried out using ballot paper in all 300 seats, said Election Commission Secretariat Secretary Jahangir Alam following a meeting of the Election Commission (EC) on Monday (3 April).

He said the EC's decision was due to the lack of funds required to buy new EVMs, the reluctance of the finance ministry to provide the Tk1,200 crore needed to repair the available EVMs, and the opposition it has generated from different political parties.

The secretary also said the Gazipur City Corporation election will be held on 25 May.

On 19 October, the EC sent a project proposal worth Tk8,711 crore to the Planning Commission to purchase around two lakh EVMs to use in 150 constituencies in the 12th parliamentary election in the country.

The EC currently has EVMs for only 70 to 75 constituencies.

However, the project was later rejected by the Planning Commission due to a budget crunch.

Earlier on 6 September, some 39 notable citizens urged the EC to backtrack on the decision of using EVMs at the forthcoming national election and raised questions about spending a big sum to import the devices amid the ongoing economic crisis.

The BNP has also been very vocal against the use of EVMs for polls.