Chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal. — Collected photo.
Chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal has said that if Bangladesh’s January 7 general election will not be fair, the commission cannot be held responsible and that the responsibility will also go to the government.
He made such comments in an interview with the Voice of America Bangla service published on its website on Wednesday.
However, he expressed optimism that the election will be fair, free and acceptable.
He said that the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies were not coming to the election, as a result of which much competitive election was not going to take place.
The CEC said that the announcement to resist the elections was unconstitutional and against the law.
‘The right to assembly as mentioned in the constitution is conditional. This year’s election is a bit different, as there was no threat of conflict and violence before the elections like that of in 2014,’ he said.
Responding a question about EC’s ban on political events during the polling time, he said that those who were holding meetings in favour of elections were also being controlled.
‘If they face each other for and against the elections, there is a risk of confrontation. We do not want any such incident to be happened. There is no problem if there is a peaceful assembly,’ he said.
In response to a question, the CEC said that there was no opportunity to question the neutrality of the Election Commission.
‘The commission has to make the election from the obligation to make the election at the stipulated time. Candidates competing in the election must be aware of whether there is any rigging in the polling station,’ he said.
The CEC also thinks that the candidates should come out of the mentality of winning by any means.
In response to a question about the United States’ visa policy for Bangladeshis, he said that the Election Commission is not concerned about it.
‘The Election Commission has the capacity to conduct a free, fair and peaceful election as per existing laws. A total of 1.2 lakh manpower is required for conducting the polls, but the commission has only 1,500 manpower. As a result, the commission has to take manpower from different departments of the government,’ he said.
New Age