CCC polls: Credibility of EC and EVM placed in further question

After the Chattogram City Corporation elections, the credibility of the election commission and the electronic voting machine (EVM) has been placed in further question.

The election commission has utterly failed to discharge its duties. fulfill their duty. People do not have any trust on this commission.

Shushasoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) made allegations at a virtual press conference on Monday morning after analysing and assessing the information of the victorious candidates.

Chattogram city Awami League’s joint general secretary Md Rajaul Karim Chowdhury won the election held on 27 January. Apart from this, Awami League candidates won in all the 41 general and 14 reserved ward councilor posts.

M Hafijuddin Khan, the former advisor to the caretaker government and president of Shujan, said people do not trust the election commission, and that has been established.

He also said the election commission not only failed to execute their duties but also involved in financial corruption. So this commission is unable to act in accordance with the expectation of the people, Hafizuddin noted.

Former election commissioner Sakhawat Hossain said it cannot be said that a fair election has been held in the Chattogram city. However, a good sign is that one of the candidates has filed a case. At least this will be an example.

He further said it is possible to declare the result within a few hours with EVM. However, the declaration of the election results was delayed. Even after that, how is it possible to count the suspended votes on EVM?

Shujan’s secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said that the EVM which is used in this country is of low quality and not trustworthy. And the kind of election that has taken place in Chittagong City Corporation has raised the questions about the credibility of the election commission and EVM.

Shujan, Chattogram’s president and the vice-chancellor of the East Delta University, Muhammad Sekandar Khan said, “We hoped that a fair election would be held in the Chattogram city. However, our hope has not been fulfilled. BNP supporters were not seen in the field. If they were there, they could have done much better.”