Mayoral election in Comilla

After the new Election Commission led by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda took over responsibility, Comilla City mayoral election was the most important election it conducted. From that sense it was a test case for the new EC. People were eager to know how this would perform its duty. The victory of the BNP’s candidate, Manirul Haque Sakku, by a large margin of about 10,000 votes against his rival AL candidate, Anjum Sultan Sima, was not a surprising one, because the BNP leader is very popular in the electorate and his win was in everybody’s guess.
As the reports about election surfaced on the election day on Thursday, there were a few stray incidents during the election, and the EC had to postpone voting in two polling centres that have a total of 5,255 votes. Obviously, since the BNP candidate got almost double these votes in the rest of the polling centres, he was declared, officially, winner of the Comilla mayoral election.
As usual, from the BNP it was said that election was not being held in a free and fair manner.
There was massive rigging in the vote. After the result of the election came out, one of its leaders said that the holding of election was not fair, but the result was. The Awami camp said the election was free and fair, claiming that it was possible to hold fair election under the present government.
That is where, however, everything boils down to when these two major parties wrangle over the question of holding free and fair elections. This culture of blame game continues when they change the place and be in power. But Bangladesh is a democratic country and election is very fundamental for a democracy. The Election Commission as a constitutional organization has been given enough power to hold free and fair elections creating a level-playing field.
The burden of the responsibility of the EC is, by holding neutral elections, to know what the voters in the country actually want as far as choosing their candidates in the state’s crucial posts is concerned and declare their name accordingly. If here it fails, it fails in everything.
As the previous Election Commission was about to leave after fulfilling its tenure, the present Election Commission was formed after an arduous and a lengthy process. It is expected that in the future, the new EC would be able to deliver its duty in line with people’s expectations.

Mayoral election in Comilla

After the new Election Commission led by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda took over responsibility, Comilla City mayoral election was the most important election it conducted. From that sense it was a test case for the new EC. People were eager to know how this would perform its duty. The victory of the BNPs candidate, Manirul Haque Sakku, by a large margin of about 10,000 votes against his rival AL candidate, Anjum Sultan Sima, was not a surprising one, because the BNP leader is very popular in the electorate and his win was in everybodys guess. As the reports about election surfaced on the election day on Thursday, there were a few stray incidents during the election, and the EC had to postpone voting in two polling centres that have a total of 5,255 votes. Obviously, since the BNP candidate got almost double these votes in the rest of the polling centres, he was declared, officially, winner of the Comilla mayoral election. As usual, from the BNP it was said that election was not being held in a free and fair manner. There was massive rigging in the vote. After the result of the election came out, one of its leaders said that the holding of election was not fair, but the result was. The Awami camp said the election was free and fair, claiming that it was possible to hold fair election under the present government. That is where, however, everything boils down to when these two major parties wrangle over the question of holding free and fair elections. This culture of blame game continues when they change the place and be in power. But Bangladesh is a democratic country and election is very fundamental for a democracy. The Election Commission as a constitutional organization has been given enough power to hold free and fair elections creating a level-playing field. The burden of the responsibility of the EC is, by holding neutral elections, to know what the voters in the country actually want as far as choosing their candidates in the states crucial posts is concerned and declare their name accordingly. If here it fails, it fails in everything. As the previous Election Commission was about to leave after fulfilling its tenure, the present Election Commission was formed after an arduous and a lengthy process. It is expected that in the future, the new EC would be able to deliver its duty in line with peoples expectations.