Photo : Messenger
In a bold move, the Election Commission (EC) has decided to transfer all the Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs) and officers-in-charge (OCs) of country’s police stations in order to make the ensuing 12th parliamentary polls fair.
The constitutional body has already written to the Ministry of Public Administration with instructions to take action regarding the transfer of UNOs.
According to the EC sources, the EC letter sent to the Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration on Thursday said that the EC has decided to transfer all the UNOs in a phased manner for the smooth conduct of the upcoming National Assembly elections.
For this purpose, in the first phase, UNOs whose tenure in their current workplace has exceeded one year should send their transfer proposal to another district to the EC by December 5. The letter requested action in this regard.
EC has been saying for so long that there will be no major changes in the field of police and administration. On November 22, Election Commissioner Mohammad Alamgir told reporters, “Who will take the responsibility if there is chaos while reshuffling the field administration?”
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal answered the question of whether there will be a reshuffle in the administration or not to which he answered that they will do what they think is good for the sake of the election, but will not go beyond the jurisdiction
Four days after the statement of the CEC, the EC decided to bring major changes to the police field. The EC held a meeting with the Inspector General of Police and the Secretary of the Public Security Department on Thursday morning. A meeting was also held with the Public Administration Secretary that afternoon. After that, letters of reshuffle were given to the police and administration at the field level.
Sources related to the EC said that the EC has initially decided to reshuffle the field level of the public administration as well as the police. Instructions in this regard may be issued in due course.
The EC announced the schedule of the 12th National Assembly elections on November 15. Voting will be held on January 7. As per the announced schedule, the deadline for the submission of nomination papers for the election ended on Thursday. Nomination papers will be selected until December 4, and appeals and hearings against the returning officer's decision can be made between December 6 and 15, with the withdrawal of nomination papers starting on December 17.
Field officers of the police and administration play an important role in the National Assembly elections. Especially the roles of District Commissioner (DC), Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNO), Superintendent of Police (SP), and Police Station OCs are important. Among them, OCs work directly in the field. Now there are more than six hundred police stations across the country.
Earlier, the EC gave instructions to transfer the officer-in-charge (OC) of all police stations in the country.
The OCs who have been at work for more than 6 months have been instructed to follow the transfer order and inform the EC by next Tuesday (December 5). It was known that the EC had given this directive for the purpose of the national parliamentary elections.
On Thursday, November 30, EC Deputy Secretary Mizanur Rahman sent an instruction in this regard to the senior secretary of the public security department of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Besides, the letter has also been sent to the Cabinet Secretary and the Inspector General of Police.
According to EC sources, the Election Commission has decided to transfer the officers-in-charge (OC) of all the police stations in a phased manner with the aim of conducting the upcoming national parliamentary elections smoothly. For this purpose, in the first stage, the police station in-charge officers who have completed more than six months of service at their current workplace and their transfer proposals to other districts or elsewhere are required to be sent to the Election Commission by December 5.
When asked about this, Biplab Kumar Sarkar, Joint Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Messenger, “We have also received the EC’s letter to the Public Security Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs. As time has been given until December 5, the decision will be implemented within that time.”
The EC has announced the national parliamentary elections for January 7. As per the announced schedule, the last day for submission of nomination papers for the election was
Thursday (November 30). A total of 2,741 candidates from 30 registered political parties filed nomination papers for 300 parliamentary seats in the elections.
In this year’s National Parliament election, the total number of voters across the country is 11, 96, 91,633. Among them were 6, 07, 71,579 male voters, 5, 89,19,202 female voters, and 852 transgender voters.
Meanwhile, the EC also started scrutinising the papers of the candidates who submitted their nominations for the upcoming 12th parliamentary elections.
According to the schedule announced by the EC, the returning officer will scrutinize the nomination papers of the candidates from December 1 to 4. Meanwhile, the deadline for submission of nomination papers ended on Thursday (November 30).
A total of 2,713 candidates submitted nomination papers to contest the parliamentary election.
Among them, 1,966 candidates from 32 political parties registered with the Election Commission submitted their nomination papers. Besides, 747 independent candidates submitted their nomination papers across the country.
According to information from the Election Commission (EC), 303 candidates of Bangladesh Awami League (Election Symbol: Boat), 304 candidates of Jatiya Party (Plough), 218 candidates of Zaker Party (Rose), 151 candidates of Trinamool BNP (Golden Fiber), 142 from National People's Party-NPP (Mango), 116 from Bangladesh Congress (Coconut), 91 from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Jasod), 47 from Bangladesh Tarikat Federation (Garland), 13 from Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon (Banyan Tree) 13, 18 from Bangladesh Kalyan Party (Wristwatch), 39 from Islami Front Bangladesh (Chair), 13 from Bangladesh Jatiya Party (Jackfruit), 25 from Gano Front (Fish), 9 from Gano Forum (Rising Sun), 45 from Islami Oikya Jote (Minar), 37 from Bangladesh Islami Front (Candle), 20 from Jatiya Party-JP (Bicycle), 34 from Krishak Sramik Janata League (Gamcha), 12 from Ganotantri Party (Pigeon), 33 from Bangladesh Workers Party (Hammer), 14 from Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh (Kula), 82 from Bangladesh Supreme Party (Ektara), 49 from Bangladesh Nationalist Andolon (BNM) (Nongor), 55 from Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF) 55, 74 from Bangladesh Sangskritik Muktijot (Chari), 5 from Bangladesh Muslim League (BML), 6 from Bangladesh National Awami Party-NAP (Kureghar), 1 from Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Ladder), 1 from Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish (Rickshaw), 2 from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh (Palm Tree) and Bangladesh Muslim League (Hurricane) have submitted nomination papers for the upcoming 12th national parliamentary elections.
The deadline for filing and disposing of appeals against the returning officer's decision is December 5 to 15 and the last date for withdrawal of candidacy is December 17.
The returning officers will allocate symbols on December 18. The election campaign will continue till 8 am on January 5. The election will be held on January 7 (Sunday).
There are a total of 11 crore 96 lakh 91 thousand 633 voters across the country in this parliamentary election. On November 2, the Election Commission (EC) released the final number of voters for the parliamentary elections.
According to the EC, 6 crore 7 lakh 71 thousand 579 voters are male voters. Female voters are 5 crore 89 lakh 19 thousand 202. And the number of transgender voters is 852 in the election.
Messenger/Disha
