ZCZC
BSS-37
CEC-BY-POLLS
By polls held peacefully: CEC
DHAKA, Nov 12, 2020 (BSS) – Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda today said the by-elections to two parliamentary constituencies – Dhaka-18 and Sirajganj-1- were held in a peaceful atmosphere as there were no untoward incidents or anti-election incidents anywhere.
“The BNP’s allegations are baseless. I have been investigating through the presiding officer and control room in this regard since morning. No untoward incident or any anti-election incident has taken place anywhere,” he told reporters.
He told reporters about the election environment and the expulsion of BNP agents after voting at the North IES Center in the Dhaka-18 seat by-election.
The CEC said:”No one has occupied a single center. No one did. The BNP polling agent did not go to the center. I found out. My presiding officer informed me that no BNP polling agent had reported to him.”
Mentioning that America has to learn from elections of Bangladesh, he said, “America also has to learn from the polls held in Bangladesh as there they cannot announce the election results even in 4 or 5 days.”
“In Bangladesh, we can complete the counting of votes in four to five minutes through Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) system,” he added.
The by-elections to two parliamentary constituencies – Dhaka-18 and Sirajganj-1 were held from 9 am to 5 pm today.
Earlier, the Election Commission (EC) completed all the preparations for holding the polls in a fair and peaceful environment.
Eight candidates from six political parties including Awami League and BNP contested in these two seats.
Candidates from the three main political parties – Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Party– took part in the by-polls in Dhaka-18 constituency, while only Awami League and BNP candidates took part in Sirajganj-1 constituency.
Dhaka-18 constituency fell vacant following the death of Awami League lawmaker Advocate Sahara Khatun while Sirajganj-1 constituency fell vacant following the death of ruling party MP, Mohammad Nasim.
BSS/ASG-MSH/SRH/KU/1935 HRS