Man with political goal made one of 2 ECs

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The president yesterday appointed two new election commissioners — one of them aspired to be a candidate of the four-party alliance from Habiganj-2 (Ajmiriganj-Baniachang) constituency while the other has no illustrious background.

New Election Commissioner Modabbir Hossain Chowdhury is a former inspector general of police (IGP) and secretary and was an aspirant BNP candidate.

The other new Election Commissioner Saiful Alam served in the lower judiciary as a judge for a long time and later served as a director general in the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Following the two new election commissioners’ appointment by President Iajuddin Ahmed in the morning, the chief justice administered their oath at the Supreme Court at 4:30pm.

With their inclusion, the number of election commissioners has now increased to six — the highest ever number of election commissioners in the country.

The two new commissioners went to the Election Commission (EC) office in the evening and exchanged views with the acting chief election commissioner (CEC) and other officials of the EC.

The Awami League-led 14-party alliance strongly rejected the two appointments.

Modabbir joined the Pakistan army as a second lieutenant in 1970. He served the Bangladesh Army till 1972. He joined the police service as a superintendent of police in 1973 and was promoted to the post of IGP in 2001.

In May 2003, he was appointed secretary to the government and served till June 2004.

On June 18, daily Prothom Alo in a pre-election report quoted Modabbir as saying, “I have talked to the central leaders of the BNP. On the basis of their assurance I am working in my area. I have done so before. I am always by the side of the people in my area. I will soon join the BNP.”

During the Operation Clean Heart on November 5, 2002, police arrested Modabbir’s younger brother Motahar Hossain Chowdhury. But he was soon mysteriously released.

Requesting anonymity, a former additional inspector general (IG) of police told The Daily Star that during the caretaker government’s tenure in 2001, Modabbir, who served as the additional IG (Administration), had asked several subordinate police officers to “work for BNP and Jamaat” in the 2001 elections.

Shortly after that he was made the inspector general of police.

During that time, former Habiganj police superintendent Kangshadhar Tarafdar arrested a relative of Modabbir in connection with criminal activities. After Modabbir became the inspector general of police nearly three years later, Tarafdar was sacked from the police service in which Modabbir allegedly played a role.

Talking to reporters after his oath taking yesterday, Modabbir, however, denied the allegations.

He also flatly denied having any link with any political party.

“I am a very neutral person and I will be the same in future,” he said.

“I neither joined any political party nor sought candidature from any party,” he added.

“Let us bury this kind of question today. No one should ask me this question in future,” he told reporters who asked him about his political connections.

“I firmly believe that if we act honestly, sincerely and neutrally, the coming days will be better,” he said, adding, “I do not feel any kind of pressure. I feel very good.”

The other newly appointed EC Saiful Alam served as a district judge for several years. He joined the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) as its director in 2005. Later he was made the ACC’s director general (legal and prosecution). He also looked after establishment and administration as additional duty.

His appointment at the ACC sparked controversy as one of the commissioners opposed his appointment. Alam failed to gain any high reputation in his job.

New election commissioner Saiful Alam yesterday commented to the press that this is nothing special for him to charge as an election commissioner.

Commenting on the appointment of two new election commissioners, acting CEC Justice Mahfuzur Rahman said, “To have two such experienced men in the team is a sheer luck for me. Such a fortunate thing does not happen to everybody.”

On November 18, the president expressed his desire to appoint two more election commissioners. On November 22, following Aziz’s announcement of taking a leave, the president told in his speech to the nation that he had decided to appoint two more election commissioners.

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