Ministers, MPs can’t take part in election activities
Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukdar yesterday said ministers and lawmakers would not be able to take part in any election-related activities of Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation elections.
“There is law with provisions that very important persons like minister and members of parliament cannot participate in any election activities and campaigns. They can only cast their votes. It is not possible to go beyond the law,” he told reporters after a meeting with a delegation of ruling Awami League.
He made the comments as Awami League formed two committees to coordinate election activities of DNCC and DSCC on January 3. Elections to the city corporations will take place on January 30.
AL advisory committee members Tofail Ahmed and Amir Hossain Amu will lead the committees for DNCC and DSCC respectively. Both Tofail and Amu are AL lawmakers.
AL lawmakers -- party presidium member Faruk Khan and party joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif -- are also members of the DNCC committee, along with others. Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque is member of the DSCC committee.
AL DNCC mayoral candidate Atiqul Islam opened his election office in Uttara on January 5, which was inaugurated by lawmaker Sahara Khatun. DNCC returning officer later show-caused Atiqul for breaching the electoral code of conduct.
According to the code of conduct, no one will be allowed to carry out formal campaigning before allotment of electoral symbols on January 10.
Mahbub Talukdar yesterday also said that the commission cannot go beyond the existing law.
He said that AL delegation had discussion with them regarding the important persons taking part in the campaign. “But the delegation did not demand for allowing MPs or ministers to take part in the electioneering,”he said.
Mahbub Taluldar sought cooperation from all political parties to have a good voter turnout on election day. “EVM will be used for the first time at all centres; if the turnout remains lower in comparison to the previous election, it will not be good for us [the commission],”he said.
BNP AT AN ADVANTAGE: HT IMAM
Earlier in the day, the AL delegation led by prime minister’s adviser HT Imam claimed that BNP was at an advantage over Awami League in terms of election campaigning.
“All BNP leaders can take part in election campaign, but our mouths are shut,” he said after a meeting with Mahbub Talukdar, the acting Chief Election Commissioner. Three other election commissioners were also present at the meeting.
“In terms of equal opportunities for all, BNP is above us,” he added. HT Imam said this referring to the election rules and regulations which prohibit lawmakers and ministers from taking part in election campaigning. “Almost all MPs live in Dhaka. They cannot even talk to anyone [regarding the election]; if they do so there will be allegations that they are taking part in campaign,” he said.
When asked about Tofail and Amu being made chiefs of committees to coordinate election activities, HT Imam said: “AL has deployed them for party activities, not campaigning activities. Campaigning has not even begun yet”.
Regarding the use of Electronic Voting Machine, HT Imam thanked the commission for giving trainings to election officials over its use. “Machine does not know AL or BNP,” he said.
He also disregarded BNP’s claims of arrests of its leaders, saying nothing of this sort has happened.
Comments