The Election Commission (EC) hurriedly published the gazette notification of the elected MPs of the 13th parliamentary election without investigating whether disqualified contestants took part in the polls, said Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar on Thursday.

“The Election Commission did not conduct any investigation. Instead, it hurriedly published the gazette at dead night. Once the gazette is published, the Commission’s jurisdiction effectively ends. They have washed their hands of the matter and have nothing more to do,” he said at a press conference in the city.

Shujan arranged the press conference held at the Jatiya Press Club in the capital to raise information on the newly elected members of the 13th parliament.

Dr Majumdar said it was the responsibility of the EC to conduct investigation when such questions were raised regarding candidates’ eligibility. “The Commission could investigate and even cancel the results if necessary. It also has the authority to order a re-election.”

He said they requested the EC to investigate allegations related to loan defaulters, utility bill defaulters, dual citizenship and other grounds of disqualification before publishing the gazette.

He said there is still scope under the Article 91F of the Representation of the People Order (RPO) to take action in this regard as the Commission has authority to declare the election of such disqualified candidates void.

“We also made an important recommendation that within 48 hours of the election, the Commission should certify whether the polls were conducted in a free and fair manner. This certification is crucial,” he said.

According to Shujan’s data, 147 out of the 297 elected candidates in the 13th parliamentary election are loan borrowers. Among them, 36 candidates have loans exceeding Tk 5 crore.