Aspirant candidates of the ruling Awami League had started election campaigning in Barisal, though the general election schedule was not announced.
However, local election officials could not give any explanation in this regard and said they did not receive any revised copy of the conduct of election rules.
Water transport businessman and President of Barisal Chamber of Commerce and Industries Saidur Rahman Rintu, who purchased the party’s nomination paper for Barisal 5, pasted posters on walls in different areas of the constituency asking votes for the party.
Rintu said he asked votes not as a nominated candidate but as a party well-wisher.
When asked regarding the legality of seeking vote for a political party before announcing election schedule, Rintu said prime minister and ministers had been asking votes for the Awami League in open public meetings since long, adding that such kind of publicity were going on in different ways in different places of the country.
If there was any legal bar against such publicity, then why the election commission was not taking any action, he asked.
Meanwhile, Dulal Chandra Talukdar, Barisal district election officer, said local EC office was not aware about such publicity.
“As we did not receive the revised copy of the conduct of election rules for the candidates and representation of public order for the upcoming general elections, we cannot tell whether such kind of election publicity before announcing election schedule is illegal,” he added.
