Staff Reporter :The BNP has accused the Election Commission (EC) of working as a puppet body of the government to make the three city corporations elections a farce.Expressing annoyance at the EC’s retreat from its earlier decision on Army deployment during the polls, the party’s standing committee member Brigadier General (Retd) ASM Hannan Shah said, “The EC is working to ensure victory of ruling party-backed candidates.” Hannan Shah, also coordinator of BNP’s election steering committee for the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) polls, made the allegation at a press conference in the residence of BNP-backed DSCC’s mayor candidate Mirza Abbas at Shahjahanpur in the capital on Friday. He said, the EC is planning to stage manipulated city polls by keeping away the Army from the field. “The Army will have to be deployed in the field for the sake of free and fair city polls,” he also said.The BNP leader claimed, they have information that the Ministers and ruling party leaders were dictating the Returning Officers, polling officers and other election connected officials about how to make Awami League-blessed candidates winners. State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and AL Joint General Secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif have already instructed the EC officials to work for the party-blessed candidates in the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) polls, he added. He said, at least 99 per cent of polling centres are vulnerable, as the election officials had been asked to manipulate the polls. Another standing committee member of the party Barrister Moudud Ahmed also blamed the EC for planning a manipulated city polls. He said, the EC wants to use RAB and police to implement the blueprint of the government. So, it has decided to keep the Army at Cantonment, during his election campaign in favour of Mirza Abbas at Segunbagicha in the capital city.Moudud said, the EC’s move proves that it is working as a puppet body of the government. Criticising the EC for its revised decision of keeping army at Cantonments as a reserved force, he said that the Commission has created confusion about its role regarding Army deployment.He further said that the EC’s latest decision had made the AL cadres and terrorists happy, while the BNP and others are unhappy with EC for the decision. The BNP leader said that their allegation against the EC and the government has been proved right in frequent attacks on BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia’s motorcade during her election campaign. Voicing their strong optimism, both Moudud and Hannan Shah said all the BNP-backed mayor candidates would come out successful with big margins if voters can freely exercise their franchise.
