Percentage is not matter: EC Secretary

Staff Correspondent: Election Commission (EC) Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed said the voting in third phase upazila polls was held more or less peacefully.

He said this while briefing media at Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital’s Agargaon at 5:30pm on Sunday.

EC Secretary said that the commission expressed satisfaction approximately.

“Voting was casted through Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in four upazilas. The voting was held in peaceful manner in these four upazilas,” he added.

When asked what was rate of vote casting, EC Secretary said, “The commission said many of the parties did not participate in the ongoing upazila polls. Vote was casted 34 percent in first phase while 41 percent in second phase. In third phase, it might be 45 percent subjected to receiving results of Rangamati. We hope casting of votes will be 45 percent in the third phase.”

Helal Uddin said, “One of the political parties did not participate in the polls. They are on campaign to discourage people not to cast vote. You have to be keep the matters in mind. EC told considering the matters that percentage is not matter. Our main motto is whether the election is fair or not.”

In reply to another question, he said, “There is no law on how much vote should be casted to make the polls acceptable.”

He said, “Till now, voting in 14 centres were suspended in the third phase of the upazila. On March 24, voting was held in 116 upazilas of 25 districts.”

risingbd/Dhaka/March 24, 2019/Hasibul/AKA