KCC polls not fully free and fair: Sujan

Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Sujan), a civil society platform working for good governance, said on Tuesday that the recently held Khulna City Corporation (KCC) election was not completely free and fair, reports UNB.

Sujan came up with the observation at a press conference on 'KhulnaCity Corporation Election' held at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU).

Dilip Kumar Sarkar, central coordinator of Sujan, said the elections held on May 15 apparently took place without any major incidents and violence but there lies a question how far transport and fair the elections were.

He alleged that in the KCC election, many voters could not vote, sealed ballots without signature were counted as legitimated votes, and in many polling centers there were no polling agents of opposition political party.

Sujan observed that incidents of center grabbing, fake voting, creating obstacles in voters casting their votes dampened the free and fair poll environment.

Dilip said, "We think that Khulna City Corporation elections are a questionable election, which is not completely free, fair and flawless.

The body urged the Election Commission to conduct an investigation into the KCC poll irregularities.

The programme was conducted and chaired by M Hafizuddin Khan, president of the organization, while Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar, general secretary of the body, and its Executive Members Syed Abul Maksud and Dr Tofael Ahmed addressed the programme.