EC's top priority is to ensure voting rights for all: CEC
“We want to see voters being able to vote without any disruption. If any news of vote rigging comes out in the media, it will question our neutrality,” Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said
The Election Commission wants to ensure that nothing disrupts voters from exercising their voting rights during the upcoming national polls.
"We want to see voters being able to vote without any disruption. If any untoward incident takes place during the polls, it will question our neutrality," Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said today (10 November).
While inaugurating a two-day training programme in the capital's Electoral Training Institute, he also urged the divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, superintendents of police and regional election officers to perform their duties to make the elections free, fair and peaceful.
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"Elections are the lifeblood of democracy," the CEC said.
"The whole nation is talking about elections now. People from abroad are also interested in our national polls. Many countries and foreign organisations will send election observers," he added.
"You have to realise the importance of this election. If you need to exercise power while performing election duties, do that. But first you have to understand the importance of election, why it is held, why the public will vote and other aspects of it from a sense of responsibility, not with power," he told the DCs and SPs attending the training programme.
"The president also wants a fair election. I cannot do that, you can," Awal told the guests at the training programme.
Earlier on Thursday, the Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal met President Mohammad Shahabuddin at Bangabhaban.
"We have an obligation to hold elections within the specified time. We will announce the schedule very soon," the CEC told reporters following the meeting.
Election Commission Secretary Md Jahangir Alam on Wednesday (8 November) said the country's environment is favourable for announcing the schedule for the 12th parliamentary election.
The national elections are expected to be held in the first week of January.
Meanwhile, the political stalemate shows no signs of ending amid the consecutive blockades called by opposition parties ahead of the polls. Neither the ruling Awami League nor the opposition BNP are softening their positions before the national elections.
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi claimed on Wednesday that one of their leaders was killed and 515 others were arrested in the last 24 hours, from Tuesday afternoon till Wednesday afternoon.
He further stated that 12 people, including a journalist, have been killed across the country since 28 October, and 9,466 activists have been arrested.
The Awami League is ignoring the international community, human rights organisations, and even the United Nations to stay in power, he added.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami said that 75 of their activists had been arrested in the last 24 hours. They said that a total of 1,872 Jamaat leaders and activists had been detained nationwide since October 28, and that three had been killed.
