EVM fingerprint mismatches leave many elderly Mymensingh city voters dismayed

At 82 years old, Layli Begum has participated in numerous elections throughout her life. But for the first time, she left a polling centre without casting her vote.

Layli's inability to vote in the Mymensingh city election was due to a mismatch of her fingerprint with the electronic voting machine, leaving her deeply disappointed.

"I've voted so many times before. Never have I faced a situation where I couldn't vote," she said.

Layli, who was assigned voter No. 1123 at the Premier Ideal High School women's centre, exited the polling hall around 9:30am, disheartened after multiple unsuccessful attempts to vote.

"I might not live much longer. I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to vote again. My health is declining," she lamented.

Layli was not alone in her experience as several other voters were also seen leaving the polling stations without casting their votes due to similar issues with the EVMs.

Farida Yasmin, an elderly woman who hails from the Kalibari Kabarkhana area of the city, holds voter No. 0090.

After queuing for hours in the early morning, Farida made her way into the polling booth, only to find that she was unable to cast her vote.

Heading home around 11:55am, frustration and anger were evident in her voice.

"Despite waiting for so long and having my national identity card with me, I was still unable to vote," she said.

Election officials at the centre instructed her to return later to try voting again. But Farida is unsure if she'll come back for another attempt.

Bharti Vasfor, a 68-year-old voter, also left the polling center without being able to cast her vote.

"The fingerprint didn't match, so I couldn't vote. They asked me to return later. I plan to come back," she said.

Her daughter, Dipali Bhasfor, who accompanied her to the polling centre, successfully voted. "We arrived at the centre around 7am. I managed to vote, but my mother couldn't. There were many others facing the same issue," she said.

On her way back from the polling centre, 56-year-old Rahela Akhter from the Kalibari area was visibly upset at not being able to vote.

"I arrived to vote at 7:30 in the morning. After waiting in line, they told me around 9am that my fingerprints didn't match. How is that my fault?"

"Why weren't the voting machines checked before the election? My national identity and voter cards are in order, yet I couldn't vote. Who is accountable for this?"

However, Nurul Islam, the presiding officer at the Premier Ideal High School women's polling centre, assured that the EVMs were functioning correctly.

"Many people's fingerprints didn't match due to dirt or changes in their hand lines from labour. We've asked voters to clean their hands, and we're trying to register their votes," he said.

In EVM voting, identification is done using a smart card, the ID number from the smart card, a 13-17 digit national ID number, or a fingerprint. However, not all voters have received smart cards, and not all 10 fingerprints are stored in the Election Commission's database.

This discrepancy leads to identification challenges if the recorded fingerprints don't match the database, particularly affecting older voters whose fingerprints may not be detectable due to aging or labour-induced skin changes.

Despite these issues, Nurul Islam said that the presiding officer has the discretion to allow 1 percent of a centre's total voters to use their ID for voting.

"Out of 3,220 women voters at the centre, several have encountered issues, but only a few have been permitted to vote this way," he said, though he could not specify the exact number.

Mohammad Belayet Hossain Chowdhury, regional officer of the Mymensingh Regional Election Office, said that polling began peacefully at 8am, with five mayoral candidates, 149 general councilors, and 69 reserved women councilors in the fray.

The election is being conducted with 1,500 EVMs across 990 booths in 128 polling stations covering 33 wards of the city.