It's official

The Election Commission published the city polls results in official gazette yesterday, shelving all complaints about ballot stuffing and ousting of polling agents of rival candidates by Awami League men during Tuesday's voting.

The gazette cleared the way for the three newly elected mayors and most councillors in the three city corporations to take oath and enter office.

Any aggrieved party has now only one option to seek redress: to go to the election tribunal.

The immediate past EC led by ATM Shamsul Huda in 2009 kept the results of 33 upazila polls withheld over allegations of anomalies.

Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussein, an election commissioner between 2007 and 2012, said the then EC held back the results of about a dozen upazilas for over three months. During the period, the EC probed allegations of vote rigging and other irregularities in those upazilas.

But despite numerous reports of widespread anomalies, including ballot stuffing in Tuesday's polls, the current commission has chosen not to investigate those and instead published the results.

This EC, led by Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, did the same in case of last year's upazila and general elections, both of which were marred by irregularities.

In the face of huge criticism following last year's upazila polls, the commission had ordered the returning officers to investigate allegations of ballot stuffing in about 80 upazilas. Some returning officers did the investigation, but found “no foul play” while others did not carry out the probe. The commission did not follow up on it.

'CHAPTER CLOSED'

In the last three days since Tuesday's voting, the EC secretariat has received about 50 complaints over vote rigging and driving out of polling agents of different candidates by ruling AL men. Of them, 32 complaints were lodged on the polling day alone.  The commission also received more than 50 complaints during the campaign about violation of the electoral code of conduct.

All the complaints have been recorded, but the commission did not look into any of these, EC sources said.

As of yesterday, the CEC and the four other election commissioners did not even watch the footage of voting captured by 53 laptop cameras the commission used at various centres in the three city corporations, added the sources.

Two election commissioners -- Shah Nawaz and Zabed Ali -- refused to talk to journalists yesterday when approached through their office staffers.

Former election commissioner Sakhawat said the results publication in gazette meant the EC did not take the complaints into consideration.

"It means this chapter [the election process] is closed," he told The Daily Star.

The election process begins with the announcement of schedule and ends with the publication of the results in gazette.  

Asked about the complaints, EC Secretary Sirazul Islam suggested that complainants go to the election tribunal for reparation.

"If any contesting candidate has any grievance, he can challenge the election by filing a petition with the election tribunal," he said.

About the video footage, he said he was yet to get it.

THE TRIBUNALS

Under the law, the EC will constitute two tribunals -- one in Dhaka and another in Chittagong -- for disposal of polls-related petitions. The one-member tribunal will be formed with a joint district judge.

The commission will also set up three Appellate Tribunals -- one each for the three city corporations -- for filing appeals against the electoral tribunal's verdict.

A district judge or an additional district magistrate or an additional deputy commissioner will be the sole member of these tribunals.

A contesting candidate may file a petition with the electoral tribunal challenging the election within 30 days of the gazette notification.

In the petition, a candidate may seek cancellation of the election of a winning candidate or cancellation of the entire election. 

THE GAZETTE 

Around 7:30pm yesterday, the EC sent the results to the BG press for publishing those in gazette.

The notification is expected to be available in a day or two.

Results of three wards -- 8, 34 and 53 -- of Dhaka South City Corporation remain suspended as voting of three polling stations there was postponed due to irregularities and violence.

So for now, the gazette will bear the names of three mayors, 131 general councillors and 45 councillors from as many reserved wards for women.