EC to sue Faridpur-4 MP for polls code breach

The Election Commission is going to file a case against independent lawmaker Mujibur Rahman Chowdhury, popularly known as Nixon Chowdhury, for violating the electoral code of conduct.

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda yesterday said they have enough evidence to lodge the case against Faridpur-4 lawmaker Nixon Chowdhury.

"The case will be filed anytime within today or tomorrow," he told reporters yesterday.

He made the comment while talking to reporters after the law and order coordination meeting with law enforcement agencies before by-elections to Dhaka-5 and Dhaka-18.

"The case will be filed with a local police station. And police will investigate the matter and we will take necessary action," the CEC said.

The CEC said the EC has formed a three-member committee, led by an additional secretary, to probe whether Nixon Chowdhury has done anything wrong apart from flouting the electoral code of conduct.

The EC is filing the case as local lawmaker Nixon Chowdhury after Charbhadrasan upazila election on October 10 allegedly hurled abuse at the Faridpur deputy commissioner and other local admin officials during phone conversations with them.

On Monday, a letter was sent to the EC, among other authorities concerned, from the Cabinet Division seeking action against the violation of the electoral code of conduct.

At a press conference next day, Nixon Chowdhury sought legal action against Faridpur Deputy Commissioner Atul Sarkar, claiming that the DC acted in favour of BNP candidate KM Obaidul Bari in the recently held election for the chairman post of Charbhadrasan upazila.

The MP, however, claimed the phone conversations were heavily edited.

Meanwhile, the CEC said they do not see any big challenge in holding the Dhaka-5 by-polls on Saturday and Dhaka-18 by-elections on November 12.

The two parliamentary seats fell vacant after the deaths of Habibur Rahman Mollah and Sahara Khatun.

"We had a fruitful meeting with law enforcement agencies. We hope that they will successfully perform their duties during the two by-polls.

"We have seen that these two constituencies are ready for by-elections. There are no major problems in holding the elections in the two constituencies."

He said the by-elections will be held following health guidelines.

Law enforcement agencies will ensure safety of all polling agents after they come to polling stations to do their duties, said Nurul Huda.

The CEC said if the by-elections are not competitive, voters might lose their interest about elections. "But this is unfortunate that many elections remain non-competitive."

He said many say that voter turnout of the elections held during the pandemic was low, but it was not true.

The CEC claimed that the voter turnout of those elections was about 60 percent.

Four election commissioners, EC senior secretary, public security division senior secretary, top officials of Border Guard Bangladesh, police, and Rapid Action Battalion attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Administrative Service Association (BASA) President Helal Uddin Ahmed and General Secretary Shaikh Yusuf Harun in a statement yesterday demanded trial of Nixon Chowdhury, who had allegedly hurled abuse at government officials in Faridpur.