EC reacts to allegations of 42 eminent citizens

The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda and the other election commissioners have dismissed as baseless the allegations of misconduct and financial irregularities brought against the present election commission (EC).

At a press briefing held on Thursday at the Nirbachan Bhaban (election building) in Agargaon, KM Nurul Huda refuted the allegations brought about by 42 citizens of the country. Accompanying him at the briefing were election commissioners Rafiqul Islam, Kabita Khanam and Shahadat Hossain, as well as commission secretary Mohammad Alamgir. Election commissioner Mahbub Talukdar, however, did not join the briefing.

At the start of his written statement, CEC Nurul Huda said they had heard that 42 citizens had made an appeal to the president recently for action to be taken by the Supreme Judicial Council against the EC on various allegations. This had created confusion in the public mind and so the commission needed to make its stand clear.

The CEC said that Tk 20 million had not been allocated for training in the action plan for the 11th parliamentary election and the upazila polls. And so, he said, the allegations of misappropriation of Tk 20 million were baseless and motivated.

In the written statement it was said that over the past three years, the commission did not receive any authorised cars. The cars there were used for the commission office. The CEC also claimed that there had been no corruption in the appointment of staff and in the procurement and use of EVM (electronic voting machine).

The commission similarly rejected other allegations of misconduct and irregularities brought about by the 42 citizens.

The CEC said that foreign observers had observed the 2018 national elections. The observation agencies had made no such allegations. And the commission took action against allegations that were made in the local polls.

The CEC said that the elections were stiffly contested. The voter turnout was 60 to 80 per cent, with 2 to 8 candidates for each seat. So it was baseless to say that people had lost faith in elections.