Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said on Saturday that those involved in destroying the electoral system should be brought to justice.
鈥業n the last three parliamentary elections, almost everyone connected with the elections, including the Election Commission, police, administration, returning officers, polling officers were involved in criminal activities,鈥� Badiul, also head of the Commission for Electoral System Reforms, said while speaking at a shadow parliament debate competition organised by the Debate for Democracy at the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation auditorium in Dhaka.
He said that the Election Commission violated the constitution on various pretexts.
The EC had shown irresponsibility regarding the planned attack on Bangladesh Nationalist Party鈥檚 Naya Paltan rally on October 28 to keep the party out of the elections, Badiul Alam added.
He also said that the EC failed to prepare a level playing field for elections.
So, the issue of trial of all the persons accused of election crimes should be seriously considered, he said.
鈥楾he current government is not a caretaker government. The caretaker government is a routine government. The interim government is struggling to clear the mess of the last 15/16 years,鈥� he said.
Even then, delaying national elections could erode public confidence in the interim government, he said.
He also said that elections would not be unacceptable without Awami League鈥檚 participation if it would fail to join the polls with necessary reforms of the party.
He said that AL had completely destroyed the electoral system in this country by conducting 鈥榙ummy, one-sided and midnight鈥� elections.
Debate for Democracy chair Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiran presided over the event.
In his speech, Kiran said that the people of this country had not forgotten how the voting of the day took place at night.
He said that votes were cast in the name of dead people as 100 per cent votes were cast somewhere and journalists were prohibited from entering the polling stations.
In the debate competition, Dhaka International University won by defeating Jagannath University.
The judges in the competition were journalists Saidul Islam, Mosiur Rahman Khan, Zahid Rahman and Ahmmad Foyez.
