Taking oath of office on Wednesday, new chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda said he has no connection with any political party from the moment he took oath of office.
He denied any involvement with the ruling Awami League and expressed determination to earn confidence of all political parties including Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) which raised question about his competence and neutrality.
“The constitution and the related laws will be the basis for our work... We will not be influenced by anyone or anything else,” Huda said in his first press conference at the Election Bhaban in Agargaon of the capital.
A retired secretary who was promoted following a court order after his retirement, Nurul Huda also denied the allegations of his joining ‘Janatar Mancha’ (people’s stage), a civil disobedience programme launched by the AL in 1996.
Shortly after his appointment, the country’s primary opposition political party BNP alleged that Huda was an organiser of Janatar Manch leading to a “negative perception about him has naturally grown among the people.”
The party also expressed its surprise as to why neither the search committee nor the president took cognisance of the matter in appointing him the CEC.
“He was an additional secretary and then secretary only in papers. For all practical purposes, he never served as an additional secretary or secretary. So, he has no practical experience of discharging the duties of a secretary or an additional secretary,” the BNP said of KM Nurul Huda.
Asked what the primary challenge they feel after taking office, Huda said holding a fair election is the only challenge of the commission.
In response to a question about the government’s influence in the electoral activities, he said there is no scope to exert its influence. “We will perform our duties neutrally and will not be influenced by anyone.”
About the political parties’ confidence in him, he said, “Not only the BNP, we will continue to work to earn the confidence of all political parties including the BNP and the AL. We have the confidence that we will be able to create an atmosphere of keeping trust [in the EC].”
When his attention was drawn to a media report that he was the chief of the ruling AL’s election board of his ancestral district and asked whether he has still any connection with the ruling AL, Huda said, “I’ve no connection [with them] from now when I took the oath of office. I have taken the oath to work neutrally and I will do so.”
Asked again about his involvement with the AL’s election board, he said he was not involved in the AL’s election board.
The CEC sought cooperation from all political parties and civic groups to run the commission for next five years.
Read more: