Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda has urged the election officials to make the upcoming Dhaka City Corporation polls “as fair as the national polls.”
His call came on Tuesday (Feb 5) while briefing the returning officers and executive magistrates for the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) mayoral by-polls, Dhaka North and South City Corporation by-polls for the councillors of 36 wards and election to DNCC ward 9 and 21 councillors.
The polls are slated for Feb 28.
“Make the city corporation polls fair through the same expertise and hard work that you used during the national polls,” he said.
“It’s not your duty to see who wins the election. Your job is to monitor whether the candidates are maintaining the code of conduct,” he said, adding that the polls have to be carried out in line with the law.
Talking about the difficulties of carrying out the ward councillor elections, Huda said, “The councillors are so competitive that they do break the law.”
He added that the candidates are, however, bound to listen to the magistrates if they approach them from a judicial place.
“I saw during the national polls that the candidates didn’t protest when a junior magistrate fined them. Moreover, they pledged not to repeat their mistakes.”
He called on the election officials to do their work from a legal and judicial perspective, adding that he has full faith in their abilities.