An Election Commissioner came under fire on Saturday at the meeting of the commission members with deputy commissioners (DCs) and superintendents of police (SPs) ahead of the Zila Parishad polls, slated for October 17.
The chaos began after Commissioner Anisur Rahman in his speech sharply criticized the DCs and the SPs in response to their demands that their “election duty” honoraria and the allocation for oil costs and others be increased and be paid on time.
All the DCs and SPs of the 64 districts attended the meeting. Dhaka Tribune spoke to several DCs, SPs and EC officials on Sunday to learn about the issue.
Commissioner Anisur Rahman said that the EC had received complaints about the DCs and the SPs getting commission from the allocation for honoraria and other costs, instead of ensuring an equal distribution among all officials concerned.
Regarding their performance, the commissioner alleged that the DCs and the SPs had failed to ensure normalcy ahead of the Zila Parishad election and the Gaibandha-5 by-election. He termed them “impotent” and “toothless”.
At this point, all DCs and SPs protested loudly.
But Anisur Rahman went on speaking. He stated that many DCs and SPs were jointly working with ruling party lawmakers and local goons. He also criticized them for irresponsible behaviour and negligence during the previous polls.
But he was forced to leave the dais, five to six minutes after beginning his speech, when several DCs and SPs threatened to walk out of the meeting if he did not stop making baseless allegations against them.
When contacted, a deputy commissioner from Chittagong division told Dhaka Tribune on Sunday that the meeting with EC was ‘’not comfortable for us. An election commissioner blamed all the DCs and the SPs on allegations of mismanagement.
“All the DCs and the SPs reacted together because one cannot make a sweeping statement…he can’t blame us all without pointing at any specific issue or a district,” he said, seeking anonymity.
CEC Kazi Habibul Awal presided over the meeting, while the Ministry of Home Affairs Senior Secretary Akhter Hossain and Additional IGP Atiqul Islam also participated.
‘Police work under EC during polls’
At the end of the meeting, the CEC asked the DCs and the SPs to forget their political ideologies while performing duties. "You are public servants.”
"You will have to be neutral in your position. You must follow your duty according to the laws of Bangladesh. This is the expectation of the people. You have to earn trust by fulfilling the expectations of the people by applying all the rules and regulations," he added.
Meanwhile, Additional IGP Atiqul Islam said that the police officers work under the EC during the elections.
“The police perform their duties at the instructions of the EC. Action will be taken if there is a complaint of favouritism against anyone,” he noted.
During the meeting, the officials requested the EC to increase the number of booths at each polling centre. Later, CEC Awal assured the officials that EC would consider this proposal.
Senior Secretary Akhter Hossain said several issues related to the next general election and upcoming Zilla Parishad polls were discussed in the meeting.
“We also discussed how to hold elections peacefully next time, and the police officials presented their suggestions for it. They have also talked about their experience at elections earlier,” he added.