Suspension of Gaibandha by-polls: Probe body formed, report within 7 days

The Election Commission had formed a committee to probe all allegations of irregularities concerning the suspended by-polls to the Gaibandha-5 constituency, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said on Thursday.

The three-member committee would submit their report within seven days, he told a news briefing at the EC headquarters in Dhaka, adding that the commission would decide its next course of action about the by-election after receiving the investigation report.

The media briefing was arranged to clear confusions about the suspension of the polls, he noted.

The probe panel is headed by Ashok Kumar Debnath, additional secretary of the Election Commission, while joint secretaries Kamal Uddin Biswas and Md Shahedunnabi Chowdhury are the other two members.

The commission on Wednesday suspended the by-elections to Gainbandha-5 parliamentary seat amid widespread allegations of vote rigging and voter intimidation, which triggered huge reactions from different quarters including the ruling Awami League.

Asked what the EC would say in response to AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader questioning the "logic" behind its decision to suspend the election, CEC Habibul Awal said, "If the Awami League general secretary had been with us, he would have witnessed it."

Nowadays, in this age of modern technology, even roads are controlled by CCTV, he mentioned, adding, "The system has been developed in such a way that one can be informed of the facts of 200-400 places sitting at one place. So, we think it is a very promising technology that we have used for the first time. I do not think any commission has been able to monitor [polling] so closely ever before."

Not an impulsive decision

The CEC said, "There may be some confusion in the public mind regarding our decision over Gaibandha polls. We watched in talk shows that some were rejoiced, some were saddened, while some protested and some others condoled. We feel this might have caused some confusion and we need to provide some explanation to dispel that confusion."

He said the suspension was not a "reckless" decision by the Election Commission. It was rather a "thoughtful" one, which was taken through consultation with all the commissioners, he added.

"Irregularities had taken place in a few polling centres which suggest that the situation might have been similar in all centres. Thus, the Election Commission decided to suspend voting in the Gaibandha-5 by-polls," said the CEC.

Asked how the EC would handle a large-scale election considering how the Gaibandha polls turned out, he said, "Only time will tell. We will take action according to the situation at hand."

He added that it would not be logical to evaluate upcoming elections in light of the incidents that happened in Gaibandha as the commission had successfully conducted previous elections in Cumilla City Corporation and Jhenaidah Municipality with Electronic Voting Machines.

He also said the local administration cooperated in conducting the elections in Gaibandha, but the situation went beyond control and it was not possible to restore order during voting.

"We instructed again and again to bring back the order during the voting. The discipline was absent in the entire constituency," he said.

The CEC said they had to take the decision because of malpractices on the election day.

Voting was suspended after a slew of "rampant irregularities" including voters being forced to cast votes for certain candidates, CCTV cameras getting disconnected and more than one person entering the ballot booths.

In the first move of its kind seen in Bangladesh's democratic history, the EC suspended voting around four hours after it began at 8am as the environment at polling centres "went out of control" amid allegations of vote rigging using the hotly debated EVMs.

According to Section 91 of the Representation of the People Order, if the commission finds that an election is not taking place fairly, it can stop election in some or the entire constituency, the CEC said as he clarified the reasons behind the suspension.

Gaibandha-5 consists of 10 unions of Saghata upazila and seven unions of Phulchhari upazila.

The seat fell vacant after the death of former lawmaker and deputy speaker Fazle Rabbi Mia on 23 July this year.