EC postpones polls in Thanchi, Ruma and Rowangchhari upazila

The Election Commission (EC) has postponed the upazila polls in Thanchi, Ruma and Rowangchhari upazilas of Bandarban due to security concerns.

EC secretary Md Jahangir Alam disclosed this while speaking to the newspersons following the inter-ministerial meeting on law and order situation ahead of the upazila polls.

He said, “The joint forces are conducting drives in the Thanchi, Ruma and Rowangchhari upazilas. Therefore, we have postponed the polls (upazila polls) in these three upazilas. Elections to these three upazilas will be held later at a convenient time.”

The EC held the meeting at the Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital’s Agargaon in participation of top officials from relevant ministries, directorates and agencies.

Chief election commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal, election commissioners Brigadier General (retired) Md Ahsan Habib Khan, Rasheda Sultana, Md Alamgir and Md Anisur Rahman were present in the meeting.

Following the meeting, EC secretary Jahangir Alam told the journalists, “We have discussed and taken several decisions to make the upazila polls more free and fair than the 12th parliamentary elections.

Asked whether the EC has any dissatisfaction with the 12th national polls, the EC secretary said, “It’s not a matter of dissatisfaction. We could not deploy enough members of law enforcement agencies during the national polls. We hold the national polls in one go. So in many centres, there were only two police members to ensure security. We want to increase that number. We couldn’t field enough BGB members. We will deploy BGB members upazila-wise. Two to four battalions of BGB members will be deployed in every upazila. That means upazila wise manpower will be increased.”

The number of members of law enforcement agencies will be quite higher as compared to the previous upazila polls and other local government elections, said the EC secretary.

He further said there is no threat of violence in the upazila parishad polls. In response to a question, he said the intelligence agencies said in the meeting that there was no threat of terrorist attacks or violence in the upazila polls.

“They told us that this election will be competitive as many of the parties are taking part without party symbols. So there will be several candidates from one party in many of the upazilas. The intelligence report further said a number of followers of the parties that have boycotted the polls are running for the polls. So the commission is expecting a competitive and fair election,” the EC secretary added.

The sixth upazila parishad election will be held in four phases. The first phase of polls will be held on 8 May.