Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal on Thursday said that the Election Commission would continue inviting political parties to hold dialogues to address issues ahead of the upcoming national election.
“We will continue inviting political parties to resolve the problems or address the existing issues centring the polls,” he said while addressing a workshop titled ‘12th Jatiya Sangsad Elections: Role of Mass Media’ held at the Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital.
He said each political party has their own strategy and the EC would not interfere in that.
“Earlier, some political parties had not responded to our calls for dialogue. We wanted to show the political parties that we are working independently, but their political strategy is their own matter.”
“I have spoken to political parties several times since taking over charge. When parties did not want to come, our humble appeal was to join the dialogue. That's why we also informally invited them several times through letters. We received no response,” Awal said.
About the national election, the CEC said if irregularities in the 12th national polls occur, voting will be stopped across the country.
“In such circumstances, I would have no choice but to suspend the election process across the entire country. Subsequently, new elections would be organised. We have to take this measure, if needed,” he added.
In July, the 'Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2023' was passed with the key amendment authorising the Election Commission to postpone or cancel results or voting of one or more polling stations in any number of constituencies on polling day, but not the entire election to a constituency.
“Presiding officers hold a pivotal role as the head of their respective polling centres. In case I need to intervene, I will duly inform the presiding officer, who is to be my superior at that time,” he added.
“We have instructed the presiding officers to monitor the fairness of the election. If irregularities emerge, they should make efforts to address the issues. If the issues persist, the presiding officer should promptly inform both the police and the magistrate and police and the magistrate will provide assistance,” he also said.
If the situation still does not improve after their intervention, the presiding officer should stop voting at the station immediately,” the CEC added.
