Dhaka, Apr 8 (Just News): Chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda said on Sunday that he thinks the army should be deployed in the next general election.
Addressing a roundtable discussion in the capital’s CIRDAP auditorium, he said that the deployment of army would be made in the next general election the same way as in the past.
The Election Working Group organised the event to discuss issues and challenges of introducing overseas voting.
The commission did not deploy army in local government elections and, the CEC said, the commissioners needed to discuss as to how it would deploy army in the parliamentary elections to be held by January 28, 2019.
He made the remarks after Awami League presidium member Muhammad Faruk Khan had said that the EC, in last year’s dialogue, informed the party that defence forces would be deployed during the next general elections.
‘But the EC will take the final decision in this regard. Some political parties are, however, trying to create confusion among the people over the issue, which is unexpected,’ he added.
Addressing the discussion, Bangladesh Nationalist Party standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan said that their party demanded army deployment in the next general elections to ensure voting rights of the people, but some political quarters were against deployment so that they could cash in from possible unrest.
He accused the EC of playing a role in favour of those quarters.
Both AL and BNP leaders expressed their interests to help the EC and other stakeholders to introduce overseas voting.
Faruk recalled that in the election manifesto, his party had promised Bangladeshi nationals living abroad that their voting rights would be ensured.
Nazrul said that his party also wanted to ensure voting rights of the people living abroad while at the same time it demanded an environment for protecting voting rights of the people living in the country.
Former election commissioner M Shakhawat Hussain urged the EC and the government to amend necessary laws and rules to introduce overseas voting.
Election Working Group director M Abdul Alim presented the keynote at the discussion while former ambassadors Nasim Ferdaus and Abdul Momen Chowdhury, among others, spoke.
(Justnews/ys/2350hr)
