Comilla 6 constituency lawmaker AKM Bahauddin has said Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal made a mistake asking him to leave the city on accusation of violating the electoral code of conduct.
The ruling Awami League MP was speaking to reporters after casting his vote in the election to the Comilla City Corporation, at the Comilla Victoria Collegiate School centre, on Wednesday morning.
“The chief election commissioner was wrong to send me the letter [asking him to leave his constituency]. EC officials cannot defame a member of parliament like this,” he told the media.
The law cited in the letter had been formulated by the Election Commission, not by the government, Bahauddin said. “I have filed a writ petition in the High Court [regarding the law]. I will also speak in parliament. I will see to it that it is changed.”
“I am not part of the government, I am a member of parliament. Since I am not part of the government, I can stay [in the electoral area].”
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The lawmaker also said the voting was progressing in a calm manner.
On June 8, the Election Commission directed Bahauddin to leave his constituency for violating the election code of conduct.
Local lawmaker Bahauddin, who was believed to be behind then-BNP leader Monirul Haque Sakku’s victories in 2012 and 2017, has reportedly been campaigning for Awami League-nominated candidate Arfanul Haque Rifat.
Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Ahsan Habib Khan on Monday said Bahauddin had humiliated himself by refusing to leave Comilla.
BNP lawmaker Md Harunur Rashid on the same day in parliament came down heavily on the Election Commission over its helplessness as Bahauddin had not left his constituency, defying the commission’s directive.
