Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008The Election Commission (EC) sees state of emergency as a "barrier" to holding election as its Commissioner Sohul Hussain yesterday said it is not possible to hold the polls keeping the emergency in force."State of emergency is a barrier to holding election and it is not possible to hold elections keeping the state of emergency in force," said the election commissioner about the EC's position.He said the Election Commission will ask the government to create a congenial atmosphere for holding elections, but it will entirely depend on the government whether to lift or relax the state of emergency."State of emergency ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 12th, 2007The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday rejected the controversial appeal against the High Court (HC) directives for the Election Commission (EC) to collect and publish certain personal information about the aspirants to parliament.The full bench Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Ruhul Amin in its ruling said the petition did not qualify as an appeal as it was filed on the basis of false and fabricated documents.The judgment means now there is no bar to disclosure of eight-point details including academic qualification, profession, source of income, wealth accounts and criminal records (if any) of the candidates.The HC passed the ...
(read more) Thursday, November 29th, 2007The 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 ...
(read more) Wednesday, November 21st, 2007The Supreme Court (SC) has finally decided to deliver its judgment on December 11 on the much-talked-about appeal against the High Court (HC) directive to the Election Commission (EC) to collect and publish eight-point personal information about candidates for parliamentary election.The full bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Ruhul Amin yesterday also ordered the advocate on record for appellant Abu Safa to produce him before the court on the day of delivery of its verdict.The SC passed the order and fixed the date for judgment after two days of hearing on the ...
(read more) Thursday, November 15th, 2007The Election Commission (EC) will not withdraw or cancel the invitation to BNP faction led by former finance minister M Saifur Rahman to the electoral reforms talks, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda said yesterday."We already said if anybody is aggrieved by our decision, they can challenge it in the court. Now we see they are going to challenge our decision and they are most welcome," Huda said, referring to detained BNP chief Khaleda Zia's legal notice served on the EC."We will abide by the court's order if they win in the legal battle," he told reporters after answering ...
(read more) Tuesday, November 6th, 2007Rejecting the Election Commission (EC) decision to invite M Saifur Rahman-led BNP for electoral reforms dialogue, pro-Khaleda faction of the party last night said the EC has lost its neutrality due to its farcical attitude.Terming the EC decision part of a "conspiracy" against BNP, they said they are preparing to go to court for a legal battle against the EC decision. They hoped they would win."Now, we do not believe that this commission would perform its tasks without being influenced," Rizvi Ahmed, acting office secretary of the party, told reporters on the Birdem Hospital premises on behalf of ...
(read more) Saturday, October 20th, 2007The pro-Khaleda Zia BNP faction yesterday welcomed the Election Commission's (EC) reported decision to invite the party's new secretary general to the ongoing dialogue on electoral reforms.On the other hand, the pro-reform group led by expelled secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan said they doubt if the commission had really decided anything of that sort. They warned that the aim to hold a free and fair election would not be fulfilled if it opts to ask anyone else instead of them to participate in the talks that began on September12.With Chairperson Khaleda Zia being detained on corruption charges since September ...
(read more) Friday, August 3rd, 2007The Election Commission (EC) cannot officially kick off the field level task for preparing a fresh voter list with photographs on schedule as the chief adviser (CA) has declined to inaugurate the launching of the task on next Sunday. CA Fakhruddin Ahmed, who was scheduled to formally inaugurate the beginning of the task in Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) area, changed his mind on Wednesday, as 'his government's main priority is now to tackle the prevailing flood situation.'On receiving the information, the EC at an emergency meeting on Wednesday afternoon discussed the issue, but could not fix a new date ...
(read more) Wednesday, August 1st, 2007The Election Commission (EC) has started the field level task for preparing a fresh voter list with photographs in Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) area without amending the existing electoral rolls ordinance, which does not allow such a move. Directed by the EC, the local election office on July 29 started sending its enumerators on door-to-door visits in the city corporation area to collect particulars of prospective voters with prescribed forms for preparing the voter list with photographs.Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, legal experts termed the step 'unlawful' and asked the EC not to continue the task before amending Electoral ...
(read more) Monday, July 16th, 2007The Election Commission (EC) yesterday announced its comprehensive plan for holding the next election stipulating that a voter list with photographs will be ready by October 2008 and the parliamentary poll will definitely be held by December of the same year. ''Mid October of 2008 will be the latest for having the voter list ready. The election could be held even before December of that year if the voter list gets ready earlier," Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda told a crowded news briefing disclosing the commission's official roadmap for polls."I think the voter list will be ready ...
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