The officials engaged in electoral process are in deep anxiety and feel reluctant to discharge their duties due to possible polls violence.
They feared that the carnage that occurred in 2014 might recur and they will be caught in the middle of the two inimical forces in the country.
To make thing worse, collecting information about the political ideology of the field level electoral officials by the law enforcing agencies has also demoralised them.
The Election Commission has declared the schedule for 11th parliamentary election to be held on December 30.
A Dinajpur-based education institution Headmaster who was in 2014 election duty said, “In the last election, miscreants torched our polling station and somehow managed to save our lives. Since then, I am reluctant to taking part in election duties.”
An official at a state-owned bank said, “As public officials, we are bound to discharge the election duties. But, nobody in my family likes the idea. We are in constant worry about the uncertainty. It is new syndrome as it was not the case before.”
A Keraniganj-based education institution Assistant Teacher said, “I performed the election duty many times. But, this time I am really worried. The law enforcing agencies are coming to our house to know about our political affiliation, which is really embarrassing.”
Dhaka district Polling Officer Faisal Quader told Bangla Tribune, “Many have expressed their reluctance in performing the duty citing family reasons. We will scrutinize their applications and if we find it valid, we will spare them. But, if the reason is not valid, they have to discharge their duties.”
Election Commissioner Rafiqul Islam told Bangla Tribune, “It has come to our notice that certain officials are not interested to take part in the election process. If someone has a valid reason, he or she can apply for relieving them from the duty. But, it is a constitutional obligation and there is no scope in showing reluctance in discharging polls duty citing lame excuse.”
About security, he said, “It is our responsibility to provide protection to the officials and election materials and we have taken necessary steps in ensuring that.”
About the fear of recurring 2014 election, he said, “I don’t think it will happen this time. In the last election, one party boycotted it but this time everybody is participating.”
From Nov 25, 2014, when the schedule of the last election was declared, to January 5, 2014, the election day, a total of 123 people were killed, including 19 people on the polls day.
According to the Election Commission, three polling officials were killed and 330 were injured in the last election. Over 150 polling stations were burnt down and/or vandalized in 2014.
This year, it is expected that about 0.7 million officials will be engaged in election duties in over 0.2 million voting rooms in 40,199 polling centres in 300 constituencies.
There will be one presiding officer and two or more assistant presiding officers in every centre while for each voting room, at least two polling officers will be assigned.