Cumilla city elections held peacefully: CEC

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on Wednesday said the elections to Cumilla City Corporation, five municipalities and more than 120 Union Parishads in different districts were held in a fair and peaceful manner.

“Our overall opinion is that the polls to a city corporation, municipalities and union parishads were held in a peaceful and fair manner,” he said at a post-election press conference at his office in the city’s Agargaon area, reports UNB.

He said they monitored the elections as much as possible through CC cameras and televisions and found the electoral environment peaceful since the morning and the elections were held without any violence.

“We have not heard any allegations from the voters,” he said.

The CEC said the voter turnout was around 60 percent according to the primary information the EC offices gleaned from the polling stations.

About the electronic voting machine (EVM), Habibul Awal said the commission observed that elections were held in a good manner with the EVMs, though some people alleged that they faced problems in exercising voting rights through the machines.

“Some voters said that they faced problems with EVMs to some extent. We’ve noticed that some voters especially elderly persons faced the problem. But the overall elections were held through EVMs in a good manner,” he said.

Describing the monitoring of elections through CC cameras as a new feature, he said the Commission kept arrangement for the CC camera-based watch for the first time.

About transparency in the elections, the CEC said, We’ve taken a strong position so that the voting is held in a transparent manner.”

In reply to a question about the slow casting of votes through EVMs, Election Commissioner Md Alamgir said it took time to understand it for those who were not accustomed to voting through the machines. “But those who were accustomed to it took only 15-30 seconds to vote through EVMs,” he added.