CHITTAGONG: Fair ballot is possible even under a political government if the Election Commission intends, said opposition BNP stalwart Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury MP, citing the just-held Chittagong City Corporation election as a glaring example.

The powerful politician from the port city, who is a member of the national standing committee of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), gave the government and the EC a clean chit at a press meet held at his Goodhill residence here Sunday.

He said, “The government did not influence the CCC polls.  But, an oversmart minister and an MP of the ruling party tried to interfere in the election, while staying in the port city during the polls. But, ultimately, they failed in their mission.”

Salahuddin, who had been held for hours by police the day before the election in a dramatic turn in the pre-poll scenario, claimed that Jahangir Kabir Nanok, state minister for local government, and lawmaker Aslam from Mirpur area in the capital tried to influence the election.
Eventually, BNP-backed mayoral candidate Manzur Alam swept the CCC election beating the immediate-past mayor and ruling Awami League candidate, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury.       

Salahuddin observation about the possibility of fair polls with the party in power lends credence to their bashing of the system of caretaker regime for conducting national elections.

The caretaker system was introduced amid political distrust and standoff over election issues with both sides calling each other ‘vote dacoit’. But the system took a tumble before the last polls—and there had state of emergency and an unprecedented political purge in the country that had thrown most leading politicians behind bars.                         

BDST: 12: 40 Hrs, June 20, 2010.
RGD/NS/MMK/MS/AK/MUA