‘I didn’t see night-time voting, none also raised it with court’: CEC

PBC News:  Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda has said that the allegation of day-time’s vote held at night-time on the election-day of 11th Jatiya Sangsad election has merely remained as “allegation” because none moved to court with it.

“I can’t say anything conclusively based on the allegation, because I didn’t see it personally. You (journalists) also didn’t see that the voting was held at night. Had the allegations been investigated, truth would have come out and the election would also have to be cancelled at the directive of court. Why the political parties didn’t approach to court? They had lost the scope,” he said while addressing the media at a view exchange meeting at “RFED Talk With KM Nurul Huda” organised by the Reporters Forum for Election and Democracy (RFED) at the Media Centre of Nirbachan Bhaban at Agargaon in the capital on Thursday morning.

In his remarks, the CEC made various allegations against ‘Sushashoner Jonnya Nagorik (Sujan)’ secretary Badiul Alam Mazumder, senior election commissioner Mahbub Talukder and former CEC ATM Shamsul Huda.

Making allegation of corruption involving Tk 1 crore against Badiul Alam Mazumder, the CEC said he earned the money through graft during his work with the previous Election Commission. “After I got the responsibility, Badiul Alam Mazumder showed keen interest to work with the current EC. But, I refrained from working with him as the EC officials cautioned me about him. Because of it, Badiul Alam Mazumder has been making various allegations.”

Regarding Mahbub Talukder, the CEC said he is suffering from various diseases. “In fact, he is physically sick. Sometimes he lives in ICU and sometimes in CCU. He went Singapore and India for treatment. The EC pays as much as Tk 30 lakh to 40 lakh for his treatment annually.”

Besides, he (Mahbub Talukder) tries to find faults if there is any meeting at the commission. He starts making remarks which the mass media will swallow, Nurul Huda said.