Huda-led EC set to make debut with local polls

Immediately after taking oath today, the newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda and four other commissioners would set about the task of holding some pending local government polls.

Experts and officials concerned reckon that this job is a litmus test for the new Election Commission which would like to win public trust by holding free and fair polls.

The political parties are looking forward to seeing how the commission would conduct a series of elections scheduled in the coming weeks.

The first one is a municipal poll in the hill district Rangamati's Baghaichhari this Saturday.

Besides, by-elections to different chairmen and vice chairmen posts of 11 upazilas, by-polls to 4 municipalities and elections to three more upazilas are due on March 6.

Parliamentary by-polls to Gaibandha-1 constituency is expected to be held on March 22. Again, the by-elections to Sunamganj-2, the constituency that fell vacant after the death of Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta, and the elections to Comilla City Corporation would take place soon too, EC officials told The Daily Star.

Polls pundits and EC officials think the role of the EC in these elections would give people an idea about the competency and credibility of the new CEC and his team.

“We saw huge irregularities and violence due to lack of law enforcement during different local government polls under the outgoing commission. We hope that the new commission would take a harder stance,” said M Hafiz Uddin Khan, president of Shushashoner Jannoy Nagorik (Shujan).

“Although the national and the local bodies' elections have some differences in nature, we will get a glimpse of the new commission's mind-set here,” Hafiz, also a former advisor to a caretaker government, told The Daily Star.

Former election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain said, “In our country, a culture has been developed that fairness of elections depends on how much interference comes from the ruling party. So, it's a challenge for the new Election Commission to have the laws enforced strictly for holding a fair election”.

If the commission remains firm, field-level officials will feel that they are empowered to take actions against any irregularities, said several officials of the EC.

President Abdul Hamid on February 6 appointed the new CEC and four other election commissioners for five years. The new EC will oversee the 2019 national elections.

The election commissioners are former additional secretary Mahbub Talukder, former secretary Md Rafiqul Islam, former district and sessions judge Begum Kabita Khanam and Brig Gen (retd) Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury.

The Rakibuddin-led EC, which began its journey on February 9, 2012, and completed its tenure on this February 8, drew a lot of flak over the way it conducted polls to various national and local bodies during its tenure.

For example, it held the January 5, 2014, parliamentary elections, boycotted by the BNP-led alliance because it was held under the ruling Awami League-led administration.

In that election, 153 out of the 300 lawmakers were elected unopposed.

Besides, the commission held city corporation, municipality, upazila parishad and union parishad elections. Most of the polls were marred by violence and irregularities. In most cases, the EC neither investigated the incidents nor took any legal action against the offenders.

THE OATH-TAKING CEREMONY

Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha will administer the oath of the new CEC and commissioners at the capital's Supreme Court Judges' Lounge around 3:00pm today, Sabbir Foyez, additional registrar (admin) of the High Court Division of the SC, told The Daily Star.

After taking oath, the CEC and the commissioners would go to the Election Commission Secretariat. There, the CEC would brief reporters around 5:00pm, said SM Asaduzzaman, director (public relations) of the EC secretariat.