Election Commission: 4 ECs protest being left in the dark

Four election commissioners yesterday sent a letter to the chief election commissioner expressing dissatisfaction over “not involving them in the commission’s activities”.

In the letter, they also alleged that they were not informed of recent appointment of employees, financial issues, and other activities of the commission secretariat.

These are in violation of the constitution, Representation of the People Order 1972, Election Commission Secretariat Act-2009 and related rules, they mentioned in the letter obtained by The Daily Star.

The four election commissioners are:Mahbub Talukdar, Rafiqul Islam, Kabita Khanam, and Brig Gen (retd) Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury.

They have requested the chief election commissioner to take effective measures in this regard and inform them.

Responding to a query of a commission member at a meeting on November 14, EC Senior Secretary Md Alamgir said the appointment and financial issues were outside the purview of the commission, and the EC secretariat took steps on the issues upon the chief election commissioner’s approval, the letter mentioned.

Only election-related issues need approval of the commission, he added.

This newspaper could not contact Alamgir over phone for his comments.