Staff Reporter :
Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukdar on Wednesday said that the Chief Election Commissioner had hurt the existence of an election commissioner by accusing him of resorting to falsehood for his comment that there is hardly any level playing field for parties taking part in general election.
He condemned the Chief Election Commissioner’s Tuesday’s comment in Rangamati and reminded him that the CEC and all the commissioners are equal.
Mahbub in a written statement said, ‘CEC KM Nurul Huda in Rangamati on December 18 claimed that I have made a false claim that there is no level playing field in the country centering the general election. I strongly condemn his statement because he has hurt the existence of an election commissioner. We must keep in mind that all the election commissioners and the CEC are equal.’ Mahbub said also that the CEC earlier had made many negative remarks about him, but he did not protest against those.
‘But when he claimed that I had said that there was no level playing field in the country centering the polls, I could not refrain myself from protesting.’
‘In a reply to journalists on December 17, I had asked them to question their conscience if there is any level playing field. Still now, I request the people concerned to think about whether there is any level playing field,’ the statement added.
KM Nurul Huda at a views-exchange on Tuesday claimed to have ensured level playing field and the situation was under control of the commission.
He came up with the claim a day after election commissioner Mahbubu Talukder remarked that he did not think that any level playing field existed in reality.
Nurul Huda said that more than 3,600 candidates submitted their nominations to contest in the 11th parliamentary election and of them, 1,846 are in the race.
‘A festive atmosphere exists in the constituencies. So, how is it that level playing field is not existing? What is the definition of level playing field?’ he wondered.
Aspirants were holding rallies, pasting posters, distributing leaflets and none was hindering them, he claimed.
The differences of opinion in the Election Commission emerge just ahead of the election by 12 days.
