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Download PDF The Election Commission (EC) has started the task for selecting polling stations for the upcoming national and local government elections with the help of army although the existing system entitles the returning officers to do it.
In defence of the move, the EC said the initiative was taken to avoid any “controversy”.
According to the existing electoral laws, the list of the polling stations is supposed to be finalised after the announcement of the election schedule.
“Now we want to finalise the list much before the announcement of the election schedule to avoid all sorts of controversies,” Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain told The Daily Star yesterday.
Once the list is made public, anyone can lodge complaints, if there is any, and the EC will resolve the disputes, Sohul said.
The EC has already directed its field level election officials to prepare lists of prospective polling stations in their areas, get them approved from the army representatives in charge of those areas and then forward the lists to the EC, commission sources said.
On the involvement of local army representatives in the procedure, Sohul said the army is working for preparing the voter list and they are cooperating in selecting the polling centres to keep the process beyond any possible manipulation and maintain neutrality.
“The army representatives have been involved in choosing the polling stations to ensure neutrality in the work by avoiding manipulation,” the election commissioner said.
A circular dated November 4 says polling stations for local and parliamentary elections are being used as the voters’ registration centres. The district election officers will inspect the centres to examine the appropriateness of including them.
“On completing the voter listing task, the district election officers will send the list of polling stations approved by the army representative for an area to the commission,” the circular says.
According to the Representation of People Order (RPO) 1972, the authority for selecting the polling stations is vested in the returning officers, who are appointed following announcement of the election schedule. Deputy commissioners are appointed as returning officers to conduct parliamentary polls, the circular adds.
“In many cases, polling stations were changed or relocated or set up afresh under unwarranted influence, which is one of the major obstacles to holding a fair election,” the circular says, adding that from now on the EC will preserve the list of polling stations and nobody, but the commission, can change any polling stations.
Sohul said the law that entitles the returning officers to select and finalise the polling stations will be amended in time.
In its electoral roadmap, the EC has announced to hold local government elections from next January and the parliamentary polls by December 2008.
In selecting the polling stations the EC has stressed the need for maintaining neutrality and constitutional image of the commission and has accordingly directed its officials.
The EC has already sent guidelines to the local election officials for selecting polling stations. It also sent copies of the circular to the military secretary of the army headquarters in Dhaka, divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, divisional election commissioners, upazila election officers and all officials concerned.
The guidelines say a polling station for parliamentary polls will be set up for 2,500 voters on an average while one for the local polls for 1,500 voters. The centres must be set up in public buildings considering transportation of the voters.
A district election officer told The Daily Star that they have started the work for selecting polling stations in cooperation with the local administration and army officials working for preparing the voter list.
DEMARCATION OF CONSTITUENCIES
According to the electoral roadmap, the EC will start demarcating parliamentary constituencies from January 2008 in order to bring balance in terms of the number of voters for a constituency.
A US expert will arrive in Dhaka next week to assist the EC with completing the task by next June, Election Commissioner Birg Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain yesterday told reporters at his office.
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