CEC cannot guarantee ‘no irregularities’ in general elections

Chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda on Tuesday said that he cannot guarantee that there will be no irregularities in the general elections.

The CEC said this while talking to the media after inaugurating a workshop at the Election Training Institute in the capital.   

Following the irregularities in five city corporation elections, many expressed their apprehensions regarding fair national elections.

According to the existing constitutional provision, the 11th parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held by the third week of January 2019 keeping Awami League party president Sheikh Hasina as the prime minister.

Hasina has already announced that the next general elections will be held in December. 

The CEC said, “We don’t think such irregularities will occur in the national elections. But we can't ensure that there will be no irregularity anywhere in a national level elections.”

“We will investigate and take necessary action if we receive complaints of anomalies,” he added.

Gono Forum president Kamal Hossain recently said that the nation does not trust the election commission anymore. In reply to the question of reporters on the matter, Nurul Huda said, “I don’t know how Kamal Hossain  read the thoughts of whole nation. Did all the people come and tell him to say that? I don’t know.”

“There were arbitrary irregularities in some places in the city corporation elections. Such anomalies happen. We took necessary action in such cases. Voting in many polling centres has been suspended in Barisal till date,” he added.

Citing the current student movement for safe roads has nothing to do with the national elections, the CEC said. “Voting in the national elections will take place according to the constitution.”

A former bureaucrat, Nurul Huda was appointed the chief election commissioner during the Sheikh Hasina-led regime in February of 2017.