No scope of Election Commission reform: Quader

Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader on Wednesday said there is no scope of Election Commission (EC) reform as it was earlier overhauled with recommendations from all parties.

“The Election Commission has been formed through a search committee and after taking recommendations from all parties. So, there’s no further scope to reform it now,” said Quader while talking to reporters after paying tributes to the grave of Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy here, marking his 55th death anniversary.

Talking about the BNP’s allegation about the EC’s role, the Road Transport and Bridges Minister, said, “Knowing that they’ll fail to win the upcoming election, the Jatiya Oikyafront is throwing stones of allegations in the air.”

The Election Commission has rejected the nomination forms of some BNP-backed candidates and it also explained why their nominations were rejected, he said adding, “BNP is bringing allegations unnecessarily.”“The Election Commission is an independent organisation and why did they turn down the nomination papers of BNP as per our advice? We have no hands in it.”

Referring to Fakhrul’s allegation of nomination business against ruling Awami League, the AL leader said, “The party, which organisational base is week, has distributed nomination forms in a massive way and it is already heard that many leaders have left Dhaka with the money they got through nomination business.”“We don’t do any nomination business,” he said.

source: UNB