Candidates urge EC to ensure fair UP election
Candidates of the upcoming union parishad elections, professionals, human rights activists and representatives of different socio-cultural and election monitoring organisations attend a view exchange meeting organised by Sushasoner Jonno Nagarik at the auditorium of Barisal NGO Development Network on Tuesday afternoon.Photo: STAR
Candidates at a view exchange meeting in Barisal city on Tuesday expressed doubt about fairness and transparency of the upcoming union parishad election as, what they said, the recently held municipality polls turned political. Organised by the district unit of Sushasaner Jonno Nagorik (Sujan), 18 UP chairman aspirants, representatives from different socio-cultural and professional bodies, human rights and election monitoring organisations attended the meeting at the auditorium of Barisal NGO Development Network in the afternoon. Badiul Alam Majumdar, central general secretary of Sujan, Rabeya Khatun, Mohiuddin Manik, Nazrul Islam Chunnu, Ranjit Dutta, Abul Kalam and Nurjahan Begum exchanged views with the UP election candidates at the meeting with Sujan Barisal city unit Vice-President Akkas Hossain in the chair. Mosharraf Hossain Sharif, a chairman candidate, said, “The Election Commission and the authorities concerned failed not only to stop use of black money and muscle power in the election, but also to make the local government non-political.” Seven other candidates--Hafizuddin Khan, Faruk Hossain, Jewel Talukdar, Nazrul Islam, Ali Shikdar, Abdullah Al Mamun and Ferdous-ur-Rahman-- also made the same allegation. They urged the Election Commission to create an atmosphere conducive to free, fair and transparent UP election. Other participants demanded more autonomy for union parishads to strengthen and develop democratic national government system. They urged the voters to elect honest and competent candidates for socio-economic development at grassroots level The first phase of the UP elections will be held between March 29 and April 3 at 596 UPs in 12 districts of the coastal belt. Time for withdrawing nominations is between March 13 and March 18. Elections to other union parishads will be held from the third week of May to June. Polls in 205 out of total 4,505 unions across the country will not be held due to disputes over their boundaries.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments