Last two phases were carnival of occupation: Menon

Alleging that recent union parishad (UP) polls witnessed ballot box stuffing on a massive scale, Workers' Party of Bangladesh President Rashed Khan Menon yesterday apprehended that people would lose trust on the Election Commission (EC) and electoral system if the trend continued.

He was talking to journalists after leading a three-member delegation of the party at a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad at the EC Secretariat.

Elections to 725 UPs on March 22 in the first phase and to 639 on March 31 in the second were marred by widespread violence and irregularities, according to media reports. Elections to 621 UPs are slated for April 23 in the third phase, 743 on May 7 in the fourth and around 1,400 more in two other phases till June.

“We have told the CEC that we want to continue participating in the polls till the last phase…we want to see what happens till the end,” said Menon, also the civil aviation and tourism minister.

“The situation is so bad and the candidates are facing so much trouble that we had to come to the commission (with complaints). Witnessing the last two phases of the polls, it appears that a carnival of occupation is going on,” he said.

The party, a component of the ruling Awami League-led alliance, requested the CEC to exercise its powers to hold the upcoming polls in a free and fair manner, he said.

A delegation member told The Daily Star that the CEC assured that the situation would improve.