City polls fair

The Election Working Group yesterday said that the four city corporation elections were held peacefully and fairly, despite the influence of national politics.
“Election and politics cannot be separated, but it is expected that the local government election will not be held under any political party banner,” said Jatiya Nirbachon Parjobekkhon Parishad Chairman Prof Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah.
He also said, “Janipop [one of the 29 civil society member organisations of the Election Watch Group] observed the election in Sylhet City Corporation. The voters' turnout proved the influence of national politics.”
EWG steering committee member Harun-or-Rashid said the Election Commission was successful in holding the polls.
Another EWG member advocate Rokhsana Khondker, on the other hand, said it was not possible yet to determine that the EC would successfully hold the upcoming national election based on the successful performance in the city corporation elections only.
“It was difficult to judge the performance of the Election Commission because it dealt with only around 12 lakh voters of the four city corporations, while the periphery of the national election is vast”, she pointed out.
Meanwhile, Brotee, another election monitoring organisation, also observed that the city corporation elections were fully free, transparent and neutral.
It added in a press release that the elections were held very peacefully and voters from all walks of life participated.
However, the organisation brought allegations of violations of certain codes of conduct before the election and said there were some technical problems of using electronic voting machines.
Another election monitoring organisation, FEMA, echoed the observations of EWG and Brotee and said the huge presence of women voters added to the significance of the peaceful atmosphere.