Badiul Alam Majumdar, Secretary of Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Sujan), said: “They have destroyed our electoral system. People have lost their confidence in the system. They have nothing to be proud of.”
Describing their performance as a “one-sided deal’, Majumdar said that the parliamentary elections the EC held in January 5 were not constitutional.
“It is true that the election should be held on time, but it should also have been participatory, free and fair. This is also mandatory in the constitution,” he said.
“In order to preserve constitutional continuity cannot be the only reason to hold a controversial election,” Majumdar opined.
Echoing Majumdar’s comments of a “one-sided” EC, Gono Songhoti Andolon founder Junaid Saki, said: “They were loyal to the government. They fulfilled the government’s wishes accordingly. If they were giving an exam on ‘fidelity to the government’, they would have stood first.”
“The constitution has given some power to every autonomous body of the state. But, the outgoing EC did not exercise their constitutional power,” he added.
Similarly outraged, civilian Masum Ahmed said: “They have proved their incompetence over the last five years. They have hijacked our right to vote. The vote is one of our democratic rights, but we have been unable to exercise this right since 2014.”
Anwara Begum, a housewife, said: “I last cast my vote in 2009. After that, I have almost forgotten how to cast a vote in the poll center.”
An associate professor of Dhaka University, requesting anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that the outgoing Chief Election Commissioner’s (CEC’s) claim that the 2014 national election was necessary “is completely bogus”.
He said: “[The EC] did not take the necessary measures to hold a free and fair election. They just played whatever role they were directed to by the government.”
“I am not convinced with the statements that he made during his term as CEC, including today’s one,” the professor added.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
