EC to deploy army during national election: CEC

BARISHAL, Jun 06 (UNB): Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda said army will be deployed during the upcoming general election but not during the city polls.

"I think, army will be deployed during the general election. Army will be present during polls but we've no plan to deploy army during city polls," he said.

He was talking to reporters on Wednesday after inaugurating a training workshop on Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at the Circuit House in the city.

Replying to a query about Bangladesh Nationalist Party's (BNP's) participation in the national election, Nurul Huda said the Election Commission (EC) is unable to take any separate initiative for any specific party.

"We urge all the parties to participate in the polls so that it could be a competitive one," he said.

"We hope BNP would participate in the election," he added.

"The allegation of vote rigging and massive irregularities will be eliminated after introduction of EVM in all voting centres," he said.

"In Khulna city corporation polls, voting in three centres was suspended due to irregularities. We're also investigating the allegations of irregularities in some other centres," he said.

Earlier, Khulna City Corporation elections were held on May 15 where Awami League mayor candidate Talukder Abdul Khaleque won with a big margin.