The Election Commission (EC) has admitted to incidents such as seizure of voting centres and widespread stuffing of ballot boxes during the fifth phase of the Upazila Parishad elections.
The Commission has blamed grassroots officials for letting such incidents occur during Monday’s polling.
Election Commissioner Md Shah Nawaz on Tuesday said local officials in some places had not strictly followed the EC’s orders.
There were hardly any cases of violence in the fifth round of the staggered local government body polls, but an almost unchecked occupation of polling centres and illegal stamping of ballot papers had marred the exercise.
The BNP had described the situation a ‘carnival of occupying voting centres’.
The EC had sounded tough following allegations of irregularities in the previous phases, but there was no indication of its warning being heeded in the just concluded fifth round.
Election Commissioner Abdul Mobarak had expressed satisfaction on Monday over what he said was fair voting, but Shah Nawaz did not agree.
Mobarak is supervising the Upazila polls in absence of Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad.
Nawaz told reporters on Tuesday, “It is true that our deputed officials did not work properly. That’s why, in some cases, we cannot say the election was fair and that we are satisfied.”
Thousands of law enforcers, including the army, were deployed to maintain law and order in all phases of the Upazila polls held so far.
The first round had passed without any trouble, but the next three legs saw an increase in the flexing of muscle power, widespread irregularities and violence that left seven people dead.
The EC had made preparations to hold a fair election, said Shah Nawaz, but added, “Yet, we cannot deny there were irregularities.”
“It cannot be said that the election was completely fair. There will be some resentment because irregularities did take place.”
He, however, dismissed the allegation that the EC lacked control over the law enforcing agencies.
The Election Commissioner said that local officials possibly neglected their work in some places, thus delaying the reporting of the incidents in time.
He said the commission had taken all the complaints into cognizance.
The EC had sought explanations from grassroots-level officials, including the returning officers and assistant returning officers.
“We hoped to get answers about the real situation. But no disturbance was reported from the field level. That’s why we could not take immediate steps,” said Shah Nawaz.
He also alleged that, in some places, grassroots officials had not been forthcoming in submitting reports about the alleged incidents.
He said the EC had already directed local officials to take the necessary measures in places from where irregularities had been reported during Monday’s polling.
Source: Bd news24
