Ruling Awami League Advisory Council Member Suranjit Sengupta has castigated the Election Commission for not being able to prevent violence in the just concluded Union Parishad elections that was held in six phases from March 22, 2016. On Thursday, at least nine people were killed due to election-related violence. Addressing the Biennial Council Session of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad in the city, he said the Election Commission failed to curb violence in the 1st and 2nd phases of the UP polls. Suranjit said that Bangladesh Election Commission is more powerful than any other country’s election commission across the world. They (EC) can cancel or accept any election, if they want, he added. “But what type of Commission it is! It neither moves forward nor backward. The EC should do something. In Thursday’s elections, too, at least nine people were killed in the election-related violence. Our Commission could not protect their lives. We don’t form this kind Commission to sit idle during an election,” he said. He also said the EC cannot shrug off its responsibly saying that all of its past achievements were marred due to some stray incidents on the UP polls voting day. Pointing finger at the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Surajit said, “You (CEC) should not do politics over the UP polls to hide your failure.” Suranjit also criticised BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for her fresh proposal for talks with the government and urged her not to boycott the next general elections. In the same vein, he also called upon the BNP chief not to boycott the next general elections. If she commits the mistake again, her party will be vanished from the Bangla soil, he said.