Ex-EC Mahbub Talukdar no more

Former election commissioner Mahbub Talukdar passed away at a hospital in the city Wednesday afternoon. He was 80.

Sabbir Ahmed, a duty manager of United Hospital, said he was brought dead to the hospital at 12:59pm.

Mahbub Talukdar was appointed as an election commissioner along with three other election commissioners and a chief election commissioner in 2017 for five years. He was a freedom fighter and joined the government in exile in 1971. After independence, he served the first four presidents of the country as their public relations officer and speech writer.

He was the assistant press secretary and speech writer to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, according to Election Commission website.

Born in 1942, Mahbub studied in the University of Dhaka and obtained Bachelor and Master Degrees in Bengali Language and Literature. He taught the same subject in the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh from 1968-1970, it said.

He was also a prominent writer of Bengali Literature. He wrote 44 books mainly on poetry and fiction.

He was awarded ‘The Bangla Academy Prize’ in 2012, the most honourable literary award in Bangladesh.