Election Commissioner Anisur Rahman on Saturday warned of taking punitive measures for obstructing voters from going to polling centres.
He also said if any leaflets are distributed to discourage voters from going to polling stations, action will be taken on sight.
The Election Commissioner came up with the remarks while talking to reporters at the Election Commission headquarters in the capital’s Agargaon following a meeting of three election commissioners--Ahsan Habib Khan, Md Alamgir and Anisur Rahman.
Someone (voter) may not come [to polling stations] to cast their votes. But none has the right to resist voting. If anyone tries resisting others, we have now brought an amendment to jail them for up to seven years or impose fines," he said.
"The Election Commission has told all the police and magistrates that stern action will be taken if anyone tries to disrupt voting," he added.
Asked if the EC would cancel candidature for violation of electoral code of conduct or clashes between candidates, the election commissioner said, "In such cases, candidature may be cancelled.”
There will be no consideration of whether the candidates are heavyweight or lightweight, he added.
“One supporter of an independent candidate has died. Such incidents are undesirable. No one will be spared for violating the rules. There is no heavyweight-lightweight. If we receive a complaint, we will take strict decisions, like canceling the candidature,” said the election commissioner.
Anisur Rahman said the election commission considers everyone the same. In that case, the commission has decided to take a neutral stand.
“There should not be any apprehension, fear or favour. No one will be spared for the commission’s extreme impartiality. We will do whatever is necessary for free, fair and impartial elections,” he added.
Regarding the questions on why the independent candidates are facing obstruction during campaigning or why the candidates of the ruling party do not obey the code of conduct, he said: “We have visited different districts. Code of Conduct is being implemented. Even today we discussed some tough decisions. I would like some more information. We will take a firm decision tomorrow when we receive some more information.”
The JS polls will be held on January 7, 2024 in participation with over two thousand candidates from at least 28 political parties and a large number of independent candidates.
In view of holding the JS polls free, fair and in a peaceful manner, the EC has decided to deploy a large contingent of army personnel across the country while over 7.5 lakh personnel from different law-enforcement and security agencies will be engaged.
Besides, 300 Judicial Enquiry Committees are working on the field to maintain the electoral code of conduct while 802 executive magistrates will remain active with mobile court operations.
According to the EC official sources, the number of total polling centres is 42,103 and total voters are 11,96,81,633. Among the total voters, 6,07,71,000 are male, 5,89,19,202 are female and 825 are masculine gendre.
Besides, a total of 9,09,529 officials and employees are going to be engaged in the polls duties. Of them 4,06,364 are presiding officers, 2,87,722 assistant presiding officers and 5,75,443 polling officers.