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The Election Commission (EC) has asked for detailed information on the returning officers, presiding officers, and other officials who served during the three “controversial” national elections held under the ousted Awami League government.
The commission has sent letters to all divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners (DCs), seeking the names, addresses, national ID numbers, passport numbers, mobile numbers, and other relevant information of these election officials, bdnews24.com reports.
On June 22, the BNP filed a case alleging that the EC had failed to fulfil its constitutional duty during the last three parliamentary elections and had instead conducted the polls without public participation using fear and intimidation.
The case filed at Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station implicates 19 people, including the chief election commissioners (CECs) and election commissioners who served during those three elections, as well as deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Police subsequently arrested two former CECs -- Nurul Huda and Kazi Habibul Awal.
In response to a request for information from the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), the EC Secretariat took the initiative to collect data on the impugned officials.
The letter, signed by EC Deputy Secretary Monir Hossain, was sent on Sunday.
In the letter, Monir wrote: "On Jul 3, the PBI sent a letter requesting detailed information from the Election Commission on returning officers, presiding officers, assistant presiding officers, and polling officers who served during the past three national elections."
He called on the local administrative officials to forward their records "in the interest of a proper investigation and justice".
In national elections, DCs from all 64 districts, along with the divisional commissioners of Dhaka and Chattogram, typically serve as returning officers, while Upazila Nirbahi (executive) Officers serve as assistant returning officers. District and Upazila election officers are also assigned election duties. Nearly 200,000 polling officials are usually deployed as presiding, assistant presiding, and polling officers.