EC's duty not to drag a respected person down: Rashida Sultana

Election commissioner Rashida Sultana on Monday said it is not the duty of the election commission (EC) to drag a respected person down.

The election commissioner came up with this remark while responding to journalists' queries in Cumilla over the stay of Cumilla-6 constituency lawmaker AKM Bahauddin to his constituency despite the letter issued by EC asking him to leave the area.

An allegation has been raised against Bahauddin that he is electioneering in favour of Arfanul Haque, Awami League (AL) nominated mayoral candidate in Cumilla City Corporation election. Following the allegation, EC issued a letter asking him to leave the constituency. But he didn’t comply with the order.

When asked, Rashida Sultana said, "The EC will act in line with the existing legal framework. He is a lawmaker; he cannot abide by the law. Why are you (journalists) labeling us a failure? It is not the duty of EC to drag a respected person down. It would be better if he left the place. It is not fair to term EC failure before the election is held."

It is learnt that election commissioner Rashida Sultana and Ahsan Habib went to Cumilla on Monday to hold a briefing with presiding officers of 105 voting centres. Following the briefing, they met newsmen.

Cumilla City Corporation elections will be held on 15 June. Election of 6 municipalities and 135 union parishads will be held under a schedule. The voting will be held via Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).

The total number of voters is 229,920 — consisting of 117,092 males and 112,826 females. Two are third gender voters.