Chief election commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal and four other election commissioners (EC) resigned on Thursday.
Awal came up with the announcement of their resignations at a press briefing at the Election Commission Secretariat’s media centre in Dhaka, reports BSS.
The four ECs are Brig Gen (retd) Ahsan Habib Khan, Rashida Sultana, Mohammad Alamgir and Anisur Rahman.
"The resignation letters will be sent to the president through Election Commission secretary," Awal said.
"We are hopeful that the promise of student uprising for building a more beautiful Bangladesh through reforms will be realised soon and the administration, justice and election system will be outstanding in the future," he said.
He also expressed his gratitude to the journalists for their cooperation in conducting their election duties in the past.
Awal said the last general election drew controversy logically as it was not an inclusive one. “Since the election was not inclusive in terms of participation of the political parties, it has been controversial. It is correct and logical.
He said his commission conducted elections and by-elections in a total of 318 constituencies.
He said since it was actually a one-party election, there was no need for vote-rigging and exercising influence from the government-level. “The election was held within the party. It was not between [the parties].”
But in the 53-year history of Bangladesh, there is no instance that any Election Commission voluntarily resigned, cancelling an election by ignoring the constitution, Awal said.
He said the commission has conducted elections (including by-polls) in 992 union parishads, 496 upazila parishads, 71 zila parishads, 90 municipalities and 16 city corporations in the last two years.
“There was no widespread controversy or criticism about the integrity, completeness and impartiality of the elections as in the past,” he claimed.
Awal said his commission has tried to arrange all the elections with caution, considering the disputed and questionable matters in all past elections since 1973, including the 2008, 2014 and 2018 polls.
Polls in phases under nonpartisan caretaker govt
Talking to reporters, Awal also proposed holding the general election in phases under a non-partisan caretaker government to achieve the desired goal.
He said it is their duty to place some proposals in light of their experience, knowledge and understanding, gleaned from the present and past, for the consideration of the government in future.
Placing the first proposal, Awal said, “Bangladesh can be an ideal field for proportional representation (party-based) elections due to the homogeneity of the population of Bangladesh.”
The election can be held in four or eight phases with a three to five-day gap between the two phases, which will be easy and helpful and for electoral management, he said in the second proposal.
Raising the third proposal, he said it will be better if the optimised use of technology can be ensured in the electoral process, continuing the online nomination submission system introduced by them.
In the final proposal, Habibul Awal said if each general election is held under a non-partisan caretaker government, the goal will be achieved.
“The members of the commission have performed their duties following the constitution,” he said focusing on the country’s election history and recalled with gratitude that his commission got the necessary cooperation from media, administration, law enforcement, armed forces and others.
Mentioning that conducting elections is a very difficult task, the outgoing CEC said all faults or liabilities for failure to hold credible elections are given solely on the shoulders of the Election Commission.
“A commission may be either dishonest or biased. But all commissions cannot be dishonest or biased all the times. The commission may be unable to make an election flawless and credible for various reasons,” he said.
He said they believe that free and impartial elections freed from black money, muscle power, influence of administration and police would not be ensured by only reshuffling the commission.
Awal said fundamental reforms in the electoral system would be required. “Changes will be required in political culture and behaviour and especially in the behaviour of candidates.”
With the announcement, the commission led by Awal broke silence for the first time since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted on August 5. It did not take any initiative to conduct any local body election in the last one month.
However, the CEC wrote an article in a Bengali daily on August 24 claiming that the Election Commission was in a crisis amid the successful post-revolution constitutional situation.
The current commission drew strong criticism from various quarters including BNP and other political parties for holding the lopsided general election on January 7, 2024, which created the way for Awami League to go to power for the fourth consecutive term.
Different local body elections held under his commission were also questioned by different political parties.
On February 27, 2022, former secretary Awal took the charge as the CEC alongside the four other ECs.
The current commission was constituted through a search committee for the first time under a law mandated by the constitution. The search committee held a series of meetings with eminent citizens and civil society representatives and sought names from the registered political parties for the posts.
A number of political parties including Awami League gave the names, but BNP and some other political parties did not send any name to the search committee.
