Chief of the electoral reform commission Badiul Alam Majudar on Friday said that the perpetrators of crimes committed in the last three general elections should be punished.
鈥楾hose who committed electoral crimes in the last three elections should be punished. The election commission committed the biggest crimes,鈥� he said.
Badiul Alam was addressing a shadow-parliament [debate] on the 鈥榬ole of the EC, candidates and citizens for a fair election鈥�, organised by Debate for Democracy at the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation in Dhaka.
He said that the government was the most important partner in the elections after the EC. If the government didn鈥檛 help, it wouldn鈥檛 be possible even for a neutral election commission to conduct a fair election.
About the newly constituted election commission, headed by AMM Nasir Uddin, the reform commission chief said that a tree was known by its fruits.
鈥楤ut, there is no big challenge for this EC. Because, unlike last time, there is no pressure from the ruling political party,鈥� he said.
Badiul Alam said that many media didn鈥檛 provide true information about the last three national elections.
鈥楾he role of the media in elections is important. But in the last three elections, some media deliberately did not tell the truth, while some others were even forced not to tell the truth,鈥� he said.
The reform commission chief said that ensuring the participation of women voters and expatriate voters could be a challenge for the election commission. Citing that the election system reform is important, he added, 鈥楤ut time must be given for reform [in the electoral system].鈥�