Election Commissioner Md Shah Newaz yesterday said miscreants knew better if the election would see any rise in violence in the next phase of upazila parishad polls.
“Ask them [miscreants] about it as it was they who are responsible for violence. The commission is trying to hold free and fair elections,” he told reporters at the EC secretariat in the capital.
Replying to a query about curbing violence, the commissioner said: “The EC alone can’t stop it. The EC is taking necessary steps to curb it.”
“There’s no way that EC can know beforehand if any violence would erupt in the elections. So it is difficult to take pre-emptive measures. The main thing is that how effectively the commission is tackling the violence when it flares,” he said.
Asked about the field level cooperation, he said: “Miscreants in the field level are desperate and causing troubles. The commission has directed law enforcers to take action. We are taking all possible measures to hold free and fair polls.”
He also said as candidates were resorting to illegal means to win the elections violence comes as its inevitable outcome.
Asked if the polling officers are feeling helpless, he said: “We are not getting such reports. But if anyone feels helpless, we will provide them with all kinds of supports. The number of law enforcers has been increased.
About the third phase of polls, he said: “We have taken measures in the areas prone to violence. Votes in 26 centres were suspended. We could have taken more steps, if we had come to know about it earlier. But suspension of election is not the solution.”
The commissioner added that the intensity of violence in the third phase was tolerable. The incidents of death during election took place far from the centres.