The Election Commission has dismissed as ‘baseless’ a report by Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB), which alleged widespread irregularities during the 11th National Election.
“It’s a baseless report and we absolutely reject it. The kinds of irregularities (claimed by TIB) were not reported in the media,” Chief Election Commission KM Nurul Huda told the media on Wednesday (Jan 16).
Asked whether the Commission solely relied on the media, he replied, “Inputs from field-level officers, executive magistrates as well as the enquiry panel do not suggest anything like that.”
After conducting surveys during voting at 50 among the 300 parliamentary seats across Bangladesh, the TIB found proof of some manner of irregularities in at least 47 of those constituencies, said the report released on Tuesday (Jan 15).
Labelling the Dec 30 general election as ‘controversial’, it said the participating political parties did not have equal opportunities and the vote was marred by irregularities.
Such an election does not augur well for democracy, it added.
The Awami League returned for a third-consecutive term in power after the Dec 30 polls, gaining victory at 259 seats. The Jatiya Oikya Front, the opposition alliance which includes the BNP, won eight seats.
The alliance cited widespread rigging and voter intimidation among other irregularities to reject the results and demanded a fresh election under a neutral polls-time administration.
The EC rejected the demand while the ruling Awami League dismissed the allegations of rigging and intimidation.