Kazi Habibul Awal
Chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on Tuesday assured that voting in Bangladesh would not take place the night before the January 7 general election.
‘The talks that voting took place the night before polling day… I can confirm not 99 per cent but 100 per cent that this will not happen under any circumstances,’ Awal said while speaking at a views exchange meeting in Chattogram.
‘That is why the ballot paper will be sent in the morning to many polling stations,’ the CEC said at the programme attended by candidates from the Chattogram region and members of law enforcement agencies.
‘Even if it is [ballot paper] sent 10 days or 10 months before the polls, there would not be any problem. On the morning of polling day, polling agents of the candidates concerned will check whether the transparent ballot boxes are empty, and then the boxes will be closed [for casting votes],’ the CEC said.
He also said that the commission would stop polling immediately if any attempt to show muscle power was reported.
‘Any illegal interference, suppression of any political party, and any kind of unwanted activity will be strongly resisted,’ he said.
Among others, Election Commission secretary Jahangir Alam, divisional commissioner Tofail Islam, deputy commissioner Abur Basar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman, Chattogram Metropolitan Police commissioner Krishnapada Roy, and Chattogram Range DIG Nur Alam Mina were present.
New Age
