The Election Commission has asked three of the five mayoral candidates and 14 of the 137 councillor candidates in the Barisal City Corporation election to "show cause" for violating the electoral code of conduct.
A six-member vigilance and observation committee led by returning officer Mujibur Rahman has been formed to monitor any allegations of violations of the electoral code.
The EC issued the notices to mayor candidates Shawkat Hossain Hiron, the outgoing mayor and ruling party-backed candidate, Mahmudur Rahman Khan Mamun, joint secretary of district Jubo League and Ahsan Habib Kamal, district south BNP president, former mayor and opposition-backed candidate.
Also, 14 candidates for councillor were asked to show cause within 24 hours as to why charges should not be pressed against them for violating the electoral code for starting their election campaigns before due time, the returning officer said.
Both Hiron and Kamal organised rallies in the city on May 10 and 20 respectively, after their respective parties announced their official backing for them. They also placed billboards in the city.
Mujibur Rahman said campaigning by candidates or anyone supporting them more than 21 days before the election was a violation of the Code of Conduct for City Corporation Elections.
The EC has decided to use an electronic voting machine (EVM) in one of the 30 wards in the third BCC election scheduled to be held on June 15.
Mujibur Rahman said EVM technology would be used at ward number 16 which has 4,181 voters. The centre was chosen on basis of the number of voters, accessibility to the polling centres, educational qualification and professional status of the voters, he added.
“We have already begun campaigning, leafleting and distributing posters about EVM in that ward. Before the election, 2,447 voters of the Zila School centre and 1,734 voters of Commercial College centre of that ward would be given training and demonstrations about using EVM,” he said.
