Bringing voters at polling centres not a responsibility of EC: Commissioner Anisur Rahman

Bringing voters at the polling centres is not a responsibility of election commission (EC), said election commissioner Anisur Rahman on Sunday.

He further said this is not even the responsibility of any official involved with the election duties. The candidates will bring in voters through their publicity. They have to remain active for this.

Election commissioner Anisur Rahman said this responding to a question of a newsperson regarding by-election to Chattogram-10 (Pahartali-Double Mooring-Halishahar-Panchlaish) constituency at Chattogram circuit house in afternoon.

Earlier, a meeting was held at the circuit house to exchange views with law enforcement agencies centring the by-election. Anisur Rahman attended the meeting as chief guest while EC secretary Md Jahangir Alam was the special guest. Chattogram divisional commissioner Md Tofail Islam presided over the meeting.

“The by-elections are being held just a few months before the next parliamentary election. Maybe that is why people’s interest in it would be less. The tenure of parliament is just another five and a half months,” said Anisur Rahman when a newsperson asked him what could be the voter turnout here as the turnout was very small in Dhaka-17 by-election.

Speaking about the attack on an independent candidate in the Dhaka-17 by-election, the election commissioner said, “This was unwarranted. The incident took place just a few minutes before the end of the election. The matter is being investigated.”

He also mentioned that installation of CCTV cameras at 156 centres of Chattogram-10 constituency is underway and it will be completed within a few days.