In a reaction to BNP’s criticims against him, Election Commissioner Mohammad Abdul Mobarak on Monday said no political leader has the rights to hurl abuses at the Election Commission.
“We people who work at the Commission are the citizens of Bangladesh. So are the political leaders. They definitely don’t have the rights to hurl abuses at the election commissioners throughout the year,” he said. The commissioner’s remarks came in reaction to BNP’s demand that he should apologise to the nation for what it said Mobarak’s Sunday’s derogatory comments against the party.Mobarak, now performing the duties of the Chief Election Commissioner, was addressing a press briefing at the Election Commission Secretariat in the evening over the fifth phase voting in 73 upazilas.
Earlier in the day, BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi denounced election commissioner M Abdul Mobarak’s Sunday’s remark that BNP took part in the upazila polls after rubbing its nose in the dirt asking the commissioner to withdraw his comment and apologise to the nation.
About election violence, Mobarak said the fifth phase upazila elections saw less incidents of violence unlike the previous four phases. “Even the commission didn’t receive reports of any killing in the polls violence today.” The commissioner categorically said Monday’s polls were held in a free, fair and peaceful manner.
Replying to a question over complaints of election anomalies, he said if anyone feels aggrieved with any irregularity, he or she can lodge a petition with the election tribunal. The election results are being published in official gazettes transparently and fairly.
“Had the Commission arranged the elections in all upazilas on a single day, violence couldn’t be contained fully,” he said adding that the first and third countrywide upazila elections in 1985 and 2009 were also marked by violence.
Voting at 19 polling centres in five upazilas was suspended in the fifth phase election due to violence, he added. Replying to another query over the influence of major political parties in the non-partisan local body polls, the commissioner said, the local body election is a non-partisan one. But the ground reality is different. The major parties lend their supports to candidates directly. The lawmakers can incorporate a provision in the upazila parishad law making the upazila polls partisan, if they want, he said. – UNB
