Cops need no permission
Election Commissioner Shah Nawaz yesterday said law enforcers need not take any permission from the EC to arrest anyone.
"As far as I know, there is no such provision in the electoral laws or code of conduct that law enforcers have to take our consent to arrest anyone," he told reporters at the EC secretariat in the capital.
The commissioner made the comment when he was asked whether law enforcers need EC's permission to arrest any candidate for mayor or councillor in the forthcoming Dhaka and Chittagong city corporation polls.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam yesterday said the mayoral and councillor aspirants in the city corporation polls, who are accused in cases, would be arrested by police.
He was briefing reporters at the DMP media centre.
In response to a query, the DMP spokesperson said it was the routine work of police to arrest any accused in criminal cases and those facing arrest warrants.
Some of the mayor and councillor hopefuls in the city corporation elections stand accused in even 30 to 40 criminal cases, he said.
"We're compiling the case documents and hope to send the information [to the EC] by tonight [Tuesday night]," he added.
The EC has recently sent a letter to the police authorities, asking them to provide information whether the mayoral and councillor aspirants are facing any cases.
Meanwhile, some councillor candidates, who failed to file their nomination papers within the deadline which ended on Sunday, gathered at the EC yesterday so that the commission accepted their nomination papers.
Election Commissioner Shah Nawaz refused to grant their appeal.
KHALEDA
After meeting BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in her Gulshan office last night, Prof Emajuddin Ahmed said she thinks there remains no question whether the BNP-backed candidates will boycott the upcoming city corporation polls.
He led a delegation of pro-BNP citizens' platform “Shoto Nagorik”.
Khaleda also thinks the EC has to “create” a level-playing field for all in the elections, Emajuddin said.
The BNP chief also expressed her concern whether the EC would be able to play a neutral role and ensure a congenial atmosphere during the polls.
BNP APPLICATION
Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain, also an adviser to the BNP chief, said they would start filing applications with the High Court as well as the lower courts, seeking bail for several party-backed candidates for the mayor and councillor posts.
He said those candidates were arrested on “political grounds.”
“We hope the government will show a liberal attitude by granting bail to our leaders for creating a congenial atmosphere and level-playing field in the elections,” he added
Mahbub, also the president of Supreme Court Bar Association, said the BNP hoped that police would not arrest opposition men afresh once they came out in public for election campaign.
Election to the Dhaka and Chittagong city corporations will be held on April 28, as per the schedule.
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