CEC vows to win public trust

The Election Commission will do its best to remove the trust deficit about it for holding a credible national election, CEC Kazi Habibul Awal said on Monday.

"We want to hold elections remaining above all (sorts of biasness) by removing the crisis of trust," the chief election commissioner said this at a dialogue with media personalities at the Nirbachan Bhaban here.

Awal said they started talks with stakeholders as soon as they took over the charge of the Election Commission.

"We'll note your opinion and review it. The roadmap for the next 12th national election will be prepared taking opinion from of the dialogues," he said.

Senior journalists from different electronic media joined the dialogue on Monday as part of a series of such meetings to elicit opinion on how to hold a free and fair election in the country.

Earlier, the EC, constituted in February last, sat with educationists, civil society members and senior journalists from print media in three phases.

BSS adds: Awal said: "Every stakeholder will have to make efforts for holding a fair election. We are not holding any meaningless dialogue."

Noting that keeping transparency in polls is very important, the CEC said they talked about setting CCTV cameras inside centers and showing it on monitor outside of centers.

National and international election observers can also report to the commission, he said.

He said they have efforts to discharge duties with honesty and they will continue it.

Awal said they will have to do everything required to make the polls free from any kinds of influence.

Biggest challenge of holding an election is to ensure that voters can exercise their franchise smoothly, he mentioned.

He said they must have to stop any kind of vote rigging. "We will try to enhance our capability and efficiency," he said.

The CEC said electronic voting machine (EVM) facilities can reduce the use of muscle power as none can fill ballot box with stamping ballot papers illegally in this system.

"We have already held several meetings over the matter," he said.

Four election commissioners and senior officials of the EC joined the dialogue.