Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain has criticised Election Commission over its role in tackling the heat surfacing on the field due to approaching election.

“I heard the chief election commissioner is embarrassed over attack on BNP’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul,” he said at the launching show of The Daily Star’s ‘Election Talks 2018’.

“These terms are not for the Election Commission. He might as well leave the commission feeling embarrassed. The commission is an election-oriented institution,” he said.

“I would have been very happy had the CEC rather said that enquiry committees have been sent to the places to enquire the recent incidents,” he said.

“Had he said the commission is investigating these attacks and punish those responsible… had he taken one or two prompt actions on reports of the enquiry committee, it would have been precedent,” Sakhawat Hossain said.

In response to question on whether the Election Commission is adequately manned to handle all the incidents, Hossain said: “Bangladesh’s EC is one of the largest in terms of manpower. The Indian EC has 300 officers and we have 3,000.”

“The power vested onto the EC is more powerful than martial law. In order to make an election free and fair, it can do anything provided that it does not contradict with the laws and the constitution,” Brig Gen (retd) Sakhawat said.

The Daily Star is launching a new series of talk show ‘The Election Talks 2018’ where experts will be analysing all aspects of the upcoming general elections, contemporary politics, events and incidents.

In today’s episode researcher and writer Mohiuddin Ahmed talks with the show host Journalist Golam Mortoza.

Replying to a query whether the election will be fair, acceptable and impartial despite being an inclusive one, Mohiuddin Ahmed said, “The election is being inclusive for political parties. However, we have to wait for a few more days to see to what extent the voters participate in the elections as the atmosphere will be more heated in the coming days.”

Commenting on the opposition alliances’ doubt over the EC’s role, the political analyser said, “The EC is very strong on pen and paper, but they hardly exercise the power vested onto them. Besides, the way the election commissioners get recruited; they tend to be loyal to their recruiter and a fear factor works as well.”

“On the backdrop of an incident, the CEC said that he had been embarrassed. But we do not expect such a statement from him. With this, he (CEC) has shown that they are helpless despite being strong on pen and paper.”

Apart from these, various issues like the role of media in the upcoming general elections, the aspirations of the new voters, and economic development have come up in the discussion.

Watch the full show here.

You can also watch the show on The Daily Star’s YouTube channel and the Facebook page.

In today’s episode of ‘The Election Talks 2018’, noted economist Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, a former adviser to a caretaker government, talks with The Daily Star about the election to be held tomorrow.

Dr Zillur Rahman said, "Although hope was created due to the participation of all the political parties, but we stumbled when the campaigning began."

The attacks carried out reportedly on behalf of the ruling party were more in number, he said.

Capturing the field became more important than securing people's vote during the electioneering, he added.

Watch the video to know more!