EC works like govt\\\'s type machine: BNP

FE Team | Published: February 24, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Criticising the Election Commission (EC) for its 'subservient' role, BNP said Sunday the commission is acting like a type machine of the current illegal regime, reports UNB.
"It's the constitutional duty of the Election Commission to hold a free and fair election. But the commission has lost its credibility through its controversial and subservient role," said BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
Addressing a press briefing at BNP's Nayapaltan central office, he also alleged that the commission carries out the executive branch's orders verbatim.
The BNP leader also accused the EC of turning a blind eye to the irregularities by the ruling party men as it does not take any action against them. "It's really like crying in the wilderness to complain to the commission against the violation of the election code of conduct by the ruling party leaders and terrorist acts."
He claimed the returning officers did not take cognizance of any of the allegation brought by the 19-party-backed candidates during the first phase of upazila polls.
"It seems that the EC is sincerely working for staging a farcical election. There's no instance in any civilised country of such deliberate submission to the government ignoring the rules of the Election Commission," Rizvi observed.
The BNP leader also said the way the ruling party captured polling stations and established their supremacy during the polls, the country's people have realised the government's ill-plan about fair and transparent polls.
He alleged that the government got crazy as the 19-party candidates won majority of the chairman posts despite vote rigging, terrorism and conspiracy by the ruling party.
Rizvi said the government is arresting and harassing opposition leaders and activists and filing "false" cases against them.
He also accused the regime of blatantly using the state machinery to manipulate the upcoming upazila elections.