City corporation election must be free and fair

When we learned from reports published in newspapers on November, 2011 that the government was planning to dissolve the existing Dhaka City Corporation and split it into two, we were shocked. Eminent citizens, experts and people from all walks of life protested the move and urged the government to refrain from taking such a step as it would not help in any way and make the situation very complicated.

Ignoring people's plea the city was dissected; the government further stalled the DCC election by an unusual move. The long overdue election is now going to be held. We do not know what will be the outcome as we learned that ruling party candidates are campaigning freely but others are facing trouble.

Our Election Commission is also a strange institution. It has found no wrong when several ministers attended an election meeting to discuss the electoral strategy for a mayoral candidate in Chittagong. We hope the EC will act wisely and take all the steps necessary to hold a free and fair election and will not hesitate to deploy armed forces during the election procedure.

Nur Jahan
Chittagong