A congenial atmosphere, which is the pre-condition of a participatory election, is yet to prevail across the country, says a civic body.
“We have observed incidents of violence (during election campaigns). Cases were filed against many opposition leaders and activists. Many of them have been arrested and sent to prison,” Citizens for Good Governance (SHUJAN) General Secretary Badiul Alam Mazumder said on Monday (Dec 24).
Speaking at a media briefing in Dhaka, Mazumder said, “The pre-condition of a participatory election – a congenial atmosphere for healthy competition hasn’t been created yet.”
At the briefing, SHUJAN unveiled the affidavits of the candidates contesting the 11th Parliamentary Election slated for Dec 30.
The SHUJAN secretary accused the EC of not “properly scrutinising” affidavits of the candidates. Many nominations would have been cancelled if they were scrutinised thoroughly, he claimed.
“After the election, we hope the EC will take action against those who provided false information in their affidavits,” he added.
Shujan central coordinator Dilip Kumar Sarkar said there were 104,190,573 voters in the country and more than 2.31 crore of them were young and first-time voters.
Altogether 1,871 candidates are contesting the national election. Of them, 66 women are vying for 67 constituencies.
“Among the candidates, 61.67 percent belonging to the Oikyafront and 20-party Alliance, have cases against them. The percentage is 6.69 among Awami League candidates,” Dilip added.