IAB demands resignation of CEC

Staff Reporter  :
Losing confidence in the Election Commission, Islami Andolon Bangladesh (IAB) said they would force the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to resign through movement for the sake of free and fair elections.
“In the history of elections, it is rare to see repeated attacks on a candidate. If the CEC does not step down peacefully, the ‘shameless’ CEC will be compelled to resign through the ongoing relentless movement,” IAB Amir Mufti Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim said at the north gate of National Mosque Baitul Mokarram in the city on Wednesday.
IAB chief came up with the remarks before bringing out a huge mass procession towards the Election Commission in Agargaon demanding the resignation of the CEC as the
party’s mayoral candidate in Barishal came under attack recently.

Thousands of IAB leaders and activists participated in the mass procession. The police obstructed the rally when it reached the city’s Shantinagar intersection after marching the streets of Paltan, Bijoy Nagar and Kakrail.
The agitated workers tried to break through the barbed wire barricade but the leaders pacified them. The entire traffic system in the adjacent areas came to a halt for a long time due to their voicing of demands for the resignation of the CEC.
Highlighting the attack on their mayoral candidate in Barisal, Rezaul Karim said, “The terrorists of the Awami government have questioned the country’s image by shedding bloods of a respectable religious scholar and mayoral candidate. But it remains a mystery why the culprits have not yet been apprehended.”
He has also urged the government to accept the demand for the national government during the election period and to accept their proposed five-point proposal and eight-point demand.
Protesting the administration’s role to hinder their peaceful movement unjustly, he said, “If the people’s intense flow is hindered, the intensity of the flow only increases. Similarly, by obstructing our procession, the administration has ignited the anger of the people.”

He said that the administration is a servant of democracy, and when a servant of democracy becomes a one-sided agent of the government, it does not yield positive results.
About the price hike of essentials and electricity crisis, Rezaul Karim said, “Due to the misrule and mismanagement of the government, the country is facing a severe crisis in electricity and fuel supply. Businessmen are unable to conduct business due to power crisis. The alarming crisis of electricity and fuel across the country is the outcome of government’s wrong policies and tactics.”
“Due to the uncontrollable rise in commodity prices, the people are directionless. The government’s failure in market control is due to the involvement of party-affiliated syndicates. A proper and acceptable change of power is necessary through a fair and credible election. If the government wants to hold election while in power, people will resist it,” he said.

Addresign the rally, Maulana Muzaddid Billah Madani says, “The Election Commission should be compelled to resign. The government is sitting deep-rooted like a stone on us. This government cannot be given any more time.”
Secretary Yunus Ahmed says, “By appointing a subservient CEC, the government has transformed the Election Commission into a domesticated animal. That’s why CEC Kazi Habibul Awwal must be resigned.”
He has strongly condemned the government’s corruption and embezzlement, and demanded the return of the country’s money from abroad.