Staff Reporter:
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal on Friday urged the deputy commissioners (DCs) and superintendents of police (SPs) to exercise their authority, guided by a sense of responsibility, if necessary, to ensure a fair election.
The CEC came up with the urge while inaugurating a training programme for DCs, SPs and regional election officers at the Electoral Training Institute in Dhaka’s Agargaon.
“We want to see that you will perform your duties with wisdom, strength, experience, and knowledge in such a way that polls are free, fair and peaceful. Our message is that the election must be peaceful and held in a disciplined way. And I cannot make it orderly, you can,” Awal said.
As DCs and SPs have to play a vital role during the election, there must be coordination among them, he added.
“If there is any attempt to cast biased votes inside the polling center while voters will be waiting in line outside, someone would capture a photo of it; when that gets circulated to the media, our impartiality will be questioned,” he said.
On Thursday, a delegation from the Election Commission led by the CEC called on President Mohammed Shahabuddin at Bangabhaban in Dhaka to discuss the polls schedule.
After the meeting, the CEC told the media that they would announce the general election schedule very soon as they have an obligation to hold the polls in the stipulated time.
