Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah on Wednesday said the Election Commission would refrain from commenting on the ongoing demand for its reconstitution.
“We don’t want to give any opinion over the political activities,” he said, replying to a question from reporters that the National Citizen Party-NCP demanded the EC’s reconstitution.
Sanaullah was briefing reporters about the outcomes of the commission’s meeting held with Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin in the chair.
NCP Dhaka city unit staged a demonstration rally from 12:00pm-2:00pm in front of Nirbachan Bhaban demanding reconstitution of the Election Commission and arrangement of local government elections immediately.
When his attention was drawn to the NCP’s demand for immediate arrangement of the local government body elections before the next national election, this election commissioner said it is the government who decides which election would be held first or later.
“This sequencing (issue) – which election would be held first or later-- is not in the hands of the Election Commission, rather it is the government who decides which election would be held first or later. The responsibility of the EC is to conduct elections,” he said.
As his attention was drawn over the remarks of NCP leaders that this commission has already lost its neutrality, Md Sanaullah said, “I don’t want to make any comment over political remarks.”
NCP demonstrates at Nirbachan Bhaban, demands EC reconstitution
He, however, explained why the EC did not file any petition challenging the decision of an Election Tribunal that cancelled the results of the 2020 DSCC election and announced BNP leader Ishraque Hossain as mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).
“There is no instance in the past that the EC filed a petition challenging the court’s decision in such cases,” he said.
Md Sanaullah also said though there is no legal provision to make the EC a party in such cases, it is done in many cases.
Raising the outcomes of the EC’s meeting, he said the Election Commission approved the draft electoral code of conduct for candidates and political parties and the draft guidelines for the polling station installation and management in the parliamentary election.
“The drafts of these codes and guidelines were approved in principle, bringing some changes to the existing ones,” said Md Sanaullah.
He, however, said the finalisation of the draft code and guidelines depends on the reform initiatives.
According to the draft guidelines, the polling station installation committees would be headed by EC own officials instead of Deputy Commissioners and Upazila Nirbahi Officers, said the Election Commissioner.
Besides, the electoral voting machine related issues were dropped from the draft guidelines, he added.