Gaibandha by-polls cancelled

Staff Reporter :
The failure to hold a free and fair by-polls of the Gaibandha-5 Constituency was the ‘mismanagement’ of the Election Commission (EC) as they did not have control over the local administration responsible for holding fair election, experts said.
The Commission could not take the election conducting officials and law enforcers under their grips to ensure a fair by-election and finally they had stopped the polls saying the polls were utterly flawed.
The opposition political parties and election experts have been repeatedly saying that the Election Commission would not be able to hold fair polls unless it becomes free from ruling party influence and total grip over the election conducting management.
Observing the stoppage of the Gaibandha by-polls, they said that if a by-poll was not held in a free and fair manner, it would raise questions about the fairness and neutrality of the next parliamentary election.
Even a fissure has been created between the Election Commission and the local administration and it had been manifested in a recent meeting between the EC, and the Deputy Commissioners and Superintendent of Police of 61 districts.
In the meeting on Saturday, Election Commissioner Anisur Rahman told the DCs and SPs that they were ‘toothless and clawless’ because they cannot function without the support of the ministers and MPs ahead of the Zila Parishad polls and the Gaibandha-5 by-election.
In the same breath, the DCs and SPs protested the Commissioner’s speech in the meeting and Anisur Rahman compelled to stop his speech.
Amid such a strain relation, the EC stopped the Gaibandha by-election saying the polls were ‘out of their control’.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal in a press conference on Wednesday said, “Through the CCTV cameras, we have seen people entering the secret room and casting votes unlawfully. Over the phone, we informed the DC, SP and Returning Officer about it and stopped the polls.”
Mentioning the provision 91 of the Representation of the People Order, 1972, the CEC said “If the commission thinks that the election is not being held in a fair way, it can stop it. The situation went out of control.”
According to the provision 91, “The Commission may- (a) stop the polls at any polling station or entire constituency, as the case may be, at any stage of the election if it is convinced that it shall not be able to ensure the conduct of the election justly, fairly and in accordance with law due to malpractices, including coercion, intimidation and pressures, prevailing at the election.”
“It’s the duty of the EC to hold free and fair election. But the Gaibandha by-polls was stopped due to mismanagement,” former Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Shakhawat Hossain told the New Nation on Thursday.
“There is no time-bound when the election will be held. EC has to be satisfied before holding the poll again,” he said.
He also said that the Commission could hold the polls within a short time when an election was stopped over severe irregularities.
“As the EC has stopped it, now they will have to give its justification through proper investigation. EC has to investigate the roles of election conducting officials, administration and candidates,” he added.
In reply to a query, Shakhawat Hossain said, “It is difficult to hold fair polls without the full cooperation of the field administration. If the EC fails to take action now, it will have an impact in the next general election.”
Criticising the EC, election expert Badiul Alam Majumder said, “The by-polls has raised questions about the credibility of the EC as they did not get the cooperation of the local administration. They have failed to show their performance here.”
Meanwhile, all the candidates except the ruling party one raised questions about irregularities and malpractices including flushing out the agents, resisting the workers and supporters to enter the polling centres and entering of a number of people in the secret polling booths by the Awami League candidate supporters.
Amid such gross irregularities, four of the candidates boycotted the election after three hours later CEC cancelled the polls at around 2pm when the situation went out of EC’s grip.
Jatiya Party candidate AHM Golam Shahid said, “Our agents were kicked out of the polling stations. The ruling party workers prevented our supporters. Even the voters and our workers were intimidated the night before the election.”
“Our supporters were also harassed by the police. The voters were forced to cast the ruling party candidate in presence of ruling party men in the secret room,” he stressed.
Independent candidate Nahiduzzaman said, “There was no election environment. Such utter irregularities cannot be tolerated. We did not get the cooperation of the election conducting officials.”
However, AL candidate Mahmud Hasan brushed aside the allegations of the other candidates. “We did not force any agent to leave the polling stations. We did not intimidate anybody. The election was free and fair and was held in a peaceful environment.”
The supporters of the AL candidate staged demonstration in Saghata-Bonarpara road in the afternoon and demanded punishment of the CEC for cancelling the election.
Meanwhile, President of Jatiyatabadi Samajtantrik Dal ASM Abdur Rab alleged that the government had failed to play its ‘Constitutional responsibility’ by not extending its cooperation to the EC.
“Some 1,285 police including several platoons of RAB and Ansars were deployed for a by-election to ensure voters’ security, but the rigging could be prevented. How the security of the voters in 300 seats in general election will be ensured?” he added.
Jatiya Party Chairman and Deputy Leader of the Parliament GM Quader thanked the EC for the cancellation of the by-poll.
“The ruling party men flushed out our agents from all centres. They have prevented the voters as well. The voters cast votes against their will. So I demand rescheduling of the poll,” he said in a statement.
Brushing aside any irregularities in the elections, Awami League (AL) Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif said, “It was not comprehensible how did EC cancel the polls on the basis of CCTV footage while they were sitting in the Election Bhaban.”
The voting began at 8am in 88 centres in Saghata upazila and 57 in Fulchhari upazila in the constituency. The total number of voters in the constituency is 3,39,743.
The election was held through Electronic Voting machines (EVMs) for the first time at 952 booths in 145 centers.
The parliamentary seat fell vacant on July 23 of this year when Deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi Miah, the then lawmaker of Gaibandha-5 Constituency died while undergoing treatment in a hospital in the US.