Unfair polls to create fresh crisis

Terming the upcoming Dhaka and Chittagong city corporations' polls a gateway to overcome the ongoing political stalemate, civil society members yesterday asked the Election Commission (EC) to create a level playing field, saying failure to hold it perfectly would result in a fresh crisis.

They were addressing a roundtable, "Credible City Corporation Elections 2015", Election Working Group (EWG) organised in the capital's Cirdap auditorium where EWG Director Md Abdul Alim presented a keynote.

Asking contestants to train and educate their polling agents on vote manipulation detection, former election commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain suggested that the EC provide hourly vote counts to the agents for detection of anomalies.

Moreover, the EC should seek from police the list of people facing arrest warrants so that innocents can avoid police harassment. "Arrest warrants should be specific…if any candidate faces arrest warrants, he or she should surrender to courts to participate in campaigns," he said as chief guest.

Shushashoner Jannoy Nagorik Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said though it was not a political election, political parties have expressed favouring candidates which was a violation of the electoral code of conduct.

He criticised the EC for staying mum and suggested it deploys the army to resist manipulation.

Masud Hossain Alkaderi, a mayor contestant in the Dhaka South City Corporation polls, said time allotted for campaigning was not sufficient.

He also asked that the EC handle four ministries -- the local government, public administration, home and defence -- during voting for a credible election.

Prof Naseem Akhter Hussain of Jahangirnagar University said it was the government and EC's first duty to deal with apprehensions so that voters can exercise their franchise without fear.