Badiul Alam Majumdar, founder secretary of Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) –a civil society platform for good governance – has termed the 11th general polls as “one-sided.”
Badiul Majumdar was speaking during a virtual memorial discussion on National Professors Dr Anisuzzaman and Dr Jamilur Reza Choudhury and Sunbeams School Principal Niloufer Manzur, all of whom recently passed away.
Around 50 people took part in the webinar held on Monday.
Majumdar, while reminiscing on Professor Jamilur Reza, said: “I don't know whether any of you know, but he [Prof Jamilur Reza] and I were fortunate enough to meet our president before the one-sided 11th general election.”
“He [Jamilur] demanded the rule of the president,” Badiul claimed.
“He was made chief of the Election Commission’s technical committee formed before the purchase of EVMs for the national polls.”
“However, in protest against the committee’s move, he did not sign the recommendations made by the committee as there was no ‘voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT)’ included in the EVMs.”
“He insisted on having VVPAT as he believed that if it was not there, we would have to believe all that the Election Commission told us.
“And we have seen what has transpired in recent times,” Badiul, who is also country director of The Hunger Project in Bangladesh, added.
“The EVMs used in the last general elections were bought without the approval of the head of the technical committee formed for this sole purpose,” he said, adding, “I knew Jamilur Reza Chowdhury for 15 years.”
He referred to the late Professor Jamilur Reza as a person who was “socially and politically conscious and a progressive.”
