The Election Commission has so far received 31 complaints of violation of the electoral code of conduct for the municipal polls, but it is investigating only one case.
The returning officers concerned have been assigned to look into ‘the authenticity’ of the rest.
This has raised eyebrows among those involved with the election process. As no deadline was set for assessing the allegations, it will make the whole process largely ineffective, says a former election commissioner.
More than 12,000 candidates for mayor, councillor and reserved women councillor posts are campaigning in 234 municipalities where polls are due on Dec 30.
According to the electoral code of conduct, the EC can issue instant directive if any instance of breach of code is brought to its notice. It can even cancel candidacies for this. Rakibuddin Mandal, who is heading the EC committee on monitoring breach of polls code, said they had received 31 allegations as of Tuesday.
“Thirty of them have been sent to the returning officials concerned and they have been asked to take due steps after assessing the authenticity of the complaints,” he told bdnews24.com.
Mandal, however, admitted that the election officials were not given any deadline to complete the assessment.
The EC is only investigating the complaint about a BNP candidate in Noakhali’s Chatkhil being forced to withdraw his nominations on Dec 13.
