The assigned top officials of field administration and police are seeing the influence of MPs and ministers and the internal conflict of Awami League as the biggest challenge ahead of upcoming upazila elections. They presented such information to the election commission in a law and order meeting held in the auditorium of Nirbachan Bhaban in Agargaon of the capital on Thursday.
In a meeting presided by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal, also participated four Election Commissioners, Cabinet Division Secretaries, Public Safety Division Senior Secretaries, Inspector General of Police, all Divisional Commissioners, Range Deputy Inspector General of Police, Deputy Commissioners (DCs), Regional Election Officers and Superintendents of Police ( SP). The meeting started at 11 am and ended at noon.
After the law and order meeting to prevent the spread of influence of ministers and MPs in the upazila elections, the election commissioners immediately held an emergency meeting in the CEC room. In this case, the Commission is thinking of sending a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly to prevent the spread of influence of the Ministers-MPs on the votes. The EC had given such a letter in the previous upazila elections as well. At the beginning of the meeting with the field administration, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal urged everyone to make the upazila elections fair at any cost. Expressing the fear of chaos and violence in the upcoming upazila elections, he said that there is some chaos due to emotional elements involved in the elections of the country. Arrangements should be made so that the voters can cast their votes smoothly. Elections must be fair at any cost. If this election fails, the democratic continuity established in the last (January 7) parliamentary election may be undermined. Democracy in Bangladesh must be proved through fair elections.
EC Secretary Jahangir Alam has requested the ministers and MPs to follow the code of conduct in the upazila elections. He made this request in a briefing after the meeting.
He said executive magistrate in each union, two to four platoons of BGB will be deployed in each upazila. Several officials present in the meeting said that the issue of the influence of ministers and MPs in the elections came up for discussion. In the meeting, several police officials said that the field administration and police officers have the chance of falling under the wrath of ministers and MPs to perform their duties properly in the elections. If the Ministers and MPs do not listen to them, the field administration officials might be transferred after voting. So there is panic among everyone about the post-poll transfer. At this time, the Election Commission said you will do your work as EC will try to provide protection to field administration and police officials.
Apart from this, drawing the attention of the top officials of the police administration, the EC said, if any officer is transferred after the election; let him give somewhere better. Apart from this, the demand of keeping an additional allocation for sending ballots to polling stations in the morning was also raised; the field officials also demanded to give the allocated money for the polls before the elections.
Sources of the meeting said that due to the step-by-step voting in one district on more than one day, it will be a must for the law and order forces to maintain the polling environment. In order to make the election fair and peaceful, some officials suggested bringing polling officers and Ansar members from other upazilas in one upazila election prior to elections. It was said in the meeting that BNP did not participate in the upazila elections as a party, but hundreds of their candidates are contesting in the elections. In many upazilas, because there are more than one candidate of Awami League for all three positions, party conflicts have arisen in the respective upazilas. Due to this conflict, there is fear of disruption of law and order situation. Prior to this, the inter-ministerial meeting on the sixth upazila vote on Tuesday also discussed this issue. Top officials of various ministries and organizations including four election commissions, public security department, public administration, police, BGB, RAB were present in that meeting.
EC Secretary's Briefing: After the meeting, EC Secretary Jahangir Alam said, “Keeping in mind the upazila elections, a fair and beautiful election through coordination in the field administration was discussed. Along with this, a request has been made to the Ministers and MPs and the concerned persons to follow the code of conduct. The topic of everyone's discussion was what kind of preparation is there on the field level, and what kind of support is needed to conduct the elections in a fair and fair manner. Everyone said what problems are there in their respective districts.”
The EC secretary said that the EC will keep an eye on whether the ministers and MPs are exerting influence or not.
The EC secretary said executive magistrates will be deployed in each union and two to four platoons of BGB will be deployed in each upazila. Apart from this, additional manpower will be given if necessary. Additional force will be provided if required by District Core Committee. General centers will have four policemen; critical centers will have five members. More vigilance has been called for in elections in the districts of hill tracts.
The secretary said that as per the advice of Superintendent of Police and Deputy Commissioners, it was assured in the meeting that the commission will consider the additional budget that will be required in the morning of the polling day.
(The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on April 26 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque Khan)
