EC needs more power: Mahbub Talukdar

Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukdar has said the election commission needs more power to ensure greater participation of all parties and boost voter turnout in the polls.

“If the EC is entrusted with the decisions of when the election will be held and how, then there will no longer be concern about the turnout,” he said.

The election commissioner made the remarks at a press conference at his own office in the election commission office after voting began in the second phase of the upazila elections on Monday, reports bdnews24.com.

In addition to presenting his statement, Talukdar also took questions from reporters.

“How the local government elections will be held and how open they are is set by the government. Hopefully we can conduct open, fair, acceptable, trustworthy, legal and free polls with equal opportunities for all candidates, where all parties can participate," the commissioner said.

He has urged for the EC to be granted greater powers to be able to do so.

“In the past few days some journalists have asked me about the general and local elections. I have nothing new to say on the general election. Conscientious people have an answer regarding how the eleventh national parliamentary election went,” the election commissioner said.

He said that those involved in the election will never be able to give proper answers regarding it.

“No one can be happy with dishonest polls,” he said, pointing to Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon’s comments about restoring the stature of elections.

Mahbub Talukdar said that electoral reforms are needed in order to make elections meaningful and maintain democracy. But electoral reforms are not up to the EC, but are instead a political decision, he said.