Disposal of Polls Complaints: EC apologises to HC over non-compliance

The Election Commission (EC) has offered unconditional apology to the High Court for not complying with the latter's order that asked the commission to dispose of electoral complaints.

“The five-member commission led by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad appeared before the High Court registrar's office on Saturday and offered unconditional apology to the court through swearing an affidavit,” said a joint secretary of the EC.

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“As we could not comply with the court order, we faced contempt of court charges. That is why we offered unconditional apology,” an election commissioner told The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.

In April, an aggrieved chairman candidate of the recently-held union parishad (UP) polls filed a writ petition with the HC, as the commission did not dispose of his complaints.

The hearing on the petition was scheduled for Sunday. But it was postponed as Justice M Moazzzam Husain, who led the High Court bench concerned, was sick. The new date for the hearing would be announced later, Mohammed Yeasin Khan, the lawyer for the EC, told The Daily Star.

He refused to talk about the contents of the petition saying it was pending with the HC.

Elections to around 4,000 UPs were held in six phases from March to June this year. The first and second phases, which were held on March 22 and March 31, were marred by irregularities and violence.

Hundreds of complaints were lodged with the EC over poll-time irregularities and violence. The commission was supposed to resolve the complaints. But it neither investigated nor took any action.

Being aggrieved, Zahidul Islam, a chairman candidate of Chabhairab UP in Chandpur's Haimchar upazila, filed a petition with the HC in April. Following the petition, the court asked the EC to dispose of the complaints.

But the commission did not comply with the order; rather it on April 23 asked all aggrieved people to take their complaints to the election tribunal for disposal. This is why, the EC faced contempt of court charges, said several EC officials.

In the affidavit, the commission said it could not properly understand the court order.

The affidavit would be placed before the court on the next hearing.