Dhaka, Oct 30 — Thanking everyone for a 'fair and peaceful' Narayanganj city polls, chief election commissioner A T M Shamsul Huda has said they will hold the government to account for not deploying army for the elections.
"We are yet to know why no army was deployed in Narayanganj. But we'll sit with the government over the issue after the election," he told reporters at the Election Commission secretariat on Sunday evening.
Starting at 8pm, the Narayanganj City Corporation elections ended at 4pm with no report of violence amid BNP-backed candidate Taimur Alam Khandaker's last-minute boycott.
In the face of demands by many quarters, the Election Commission on Oct 16 decided to deploy four companies of army in Narayanganj two days before the city went to the election.
Candidates and the EC expressed their disappointment over the non-deployment of army on Friday.
The CEC had said on Friday night, "They (the government) are bound to give army, according to the constitution… they should have talked with us."
He had also said the election will be held whether army is deployed or not.
Huda on Sunday said, "It's proved now that our Friday's decision was right."
'POSTS CAN'T BE RELINQUISHED'
About calls for his resignation by several quarters after the Friday fiasco, Huda said, "Election commissioner's is a constitutional post."
"To leave it now and then is irresponsibility. We can't do this," he added.
He mentioned that the then government was not given army even after the commission had filed a written application during the 2003-04 election. "We are checking why such things happen. It's a problem. It should be resolved."
The CEC also said consensus among the commission, the government and the opposition is needed to resolve such problems. "Neither the government nor the opposition is Election Commission's enemy."
MILESTONES
Huda thinks the Naraynganj polls will be a milestone in the history of Bangladesh's election for some reasons.
"One of them is the use of closed-circuit cameras. But they are very expensive. We'll think about using webcams in the future," he said.
The commission monitored voting in 20 centres with close-circuit cameras.
The CEC also said confusions over use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have been removed after the balloting.
"We think this should be continued," he added.
EVMs have been used in 58 centres of nine wards in Narayanganj.
'VOTING POSSIBLE WITHOUT ARMY'
Asked whether it will be possible to hold fair elections without army's help, Huda said, "One should be given the job he is supposed to do. If police have any problem, we should help them to resolve it. Other agencies can't be used for everything."
Only seven hours before the elections, BNP announced to boycott the polls over that fact that troops had not been deployed. Later, BNP-backed candidate Taimur Alam Khandaker told reporters at his house that he boycotted the election following chairperson Khaleda Zia's orders.
About this, Huda said, "So far I've heard, he took the decision following a central order. I have nothing to say about it."
From:www.bdnews24.com
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