Squabbles in the EC and controversy round the year



Ismail Hossain Russel, Staff Correspondent, Barta24.com
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The present Election Commission (EC), which is committed to hold a fair and neutral election in the country, has repeatedly debated the election issue. The EC, which started the year in the face of opposition criticism for the 11th parliamentary election, created fierceness and disagreement among the commissioners themselves.

The constitutional body is ending the year with that disagreement. Although the other four other Commissioners were not with the senior Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukder, but those four Election Commissioners came together against CEC KM Nurul Huda and senior secretary Md Alamgir regarding the appointment of employees in the commission.

The Awami League got a huge victory in the 11th parliamentary elections held on December 30 last year. However, the Oikya Front and BNP rejected the election results. They also demand fresh election. Senior election commissioner Mahbub Talukder raised questions about the election at the end of January 31 this year.

Speaking to the trainees of Returning and Assistant Returning Officers on the vacant post of the vacant post of the Dhaka North City Mayor on January 5, Mahbub Talukder said, "Our actions will be tested in the eyes of the people. So we all have to be committed to making a truly acceptable and credible election. Eleventh Parliamentary elections have been very satisfying? In this case, we have to ask ourselves what the public perception is. ”Mahbub Talukdar's statement started a new discussion.

Then, after receiving the fourth phase of the polls in the upazila elections on April 4, Commissioner Mahbub Talukder raised questions about EC's activities. At that time, he said, the Election Commission has turned around in the upazila elections. Due to irregularities in the elections, voting in various centers has been stopped and action has been taken against the police and other officials involved in the irregularities.

But the question arises, why the EC did not show up during the parliamentary elections? “Upazila elections are not being participatory. It is important to find out the reasons for which we have failed to gain the confidence of the voters. In this situation, it is not fair to impose liability on voters. The EC needs self-criticism over the past two years. The mistakes that have been made in those elections need to be corrected. ”As a result, differences between the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda and Mahbub Talukder were becoming distant. The other three commissioners Rafiqul Islam, Kavita Khanam and Brigadier General (Retd) Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury, however, have always favored the Chief Election Commissioner in the case of such disagreements.

But by the end of the year, the scenario has changed. Despite the criticism of the election, no commissioner was supporting the content of Commissioner Talukdsar. but four commissioners have come out against CEC KM Nurul Huda and senior secretary Md Alamgir on the appointment of employees at the Election Commission at the end of the year.

Then the contradictory remarks of the secretary and the commissioners became public. Later, some of the commissioners indicated that they would resign if the matter was not addressed.

EC sources said Election Commissioners Mahbub Talukder, Rafiqul Islam, Kavita Khanam and Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury gave a letter to CEC KM Nurul Huda on November 24 last. They complained that the four commissioners were not informed on many issues, including financial matters. At present, the EC's overall control over the officers and employees of the EC Secretariat is absent. They are only under the control of the CEC and the Secretary. The issue of appointment is also mentioned in the letter.

However, the CEC and the Secretary feel that certain issues, including appointments, are outside the EC's jurisdiction. It is the responsibility of the secretariat. The Secretary shall be responsible to the Election Commission through the CEC. Earlier, the CEC's dispute with the four commissioners over the secretariat had been met.

According to sources, the EC Secretariat last February issued notification to the EC Secretariat's appointment of four posts from the 12th to the 20th grade in the field office of the Secretariat. A total of 85,893 people applied for those posts. This month, the appointment is finalized without the appointment letter. In the finalization of this appointment, the opinion or approval of the four commissioners were not taken. CEC Nurul Huda approved it after presenting the documents to the EC secretariat secretary. Nothing was officially reported to the other four commissioners. They were dissatisfied with it. Anonymous, a commissioner, said that the recruitment cost Taka 4 crore 8 lakh. There is no account for this money!

Later, Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukder made a formal press briefing on the issue. Immediately after the briefing, the EC's senior secretary also told reporters that there was no irregularity in the recruitment process. And the appointment is not under the jurisdiction of the Commissioners. U note’s reply was given to the commissioners on December 9. An official of the commission signed the reply. Four commissioners made angry statements at the commission meeting on Wednesday, December 11.
A Commissioner in this meeting said that the reply given by the Commission Secretariat to one of my unofficial note on appointment was merely an attempt to assassinate the character of the election commissioners. In a letter dated December 11, we were informed that some of the candidates recommended by the Election Commissioners were found to be proxy candidates while taking the oral test.

The matter was immediately reported to the Secretariat verbally. The candidates were expelled and shown to have failed the viva test. In this regard, the commissioners said at the meeting that the reply to the letter was disrespectful to the election commissioners.
The Commissioner further  also said that since the letter did not select the candidates recommended by the Election Commissioners, various questions were raised on their behalf - the statement of the secretariat involved insulting the Election Commissioners and questioning and challenging the authority of the Election Commission. At the meeting, the Commissioner said, "I have mentioned that arbitrary attitude has been coming to the Commission Secretariat since one of the previous directives was not implemented more than a year ago.

However, it is not understandable that the senior secretary of the secretariat on November 25 declared himself as an opponent of the election commissioners by holding a press conference without the approval of the commission. Stating that such a situation is not possible, the Election Commissioner said at the meeting that no free and fair election would be possible if there is no coordination between the Election Commission and the Commission Secretariat. However, it is almost impossible to act as the Election Commissioner if the secretariat and falsehood of the Secretariat is not known.

Referring to the EC Secretariat's letter to the meeting, another Election Commissioner said that the reply contained an attempt to confront the officers of the secretariat directly to the commissioners. He said that the reply in very offensive language, including the signature of the officials of the commission secretariat, shocked all the commissioners. Because in the above letter the U note given by the commissioners has been completely cut off and some of the irrelevant things have been dropped. Concerning the appointment, the Commissioner said the issue of hiring was not merely an attempt to defame the election commissioners by hiding the fact that they did not follow proper rules - which is not at all desirable. He said that if the image of the Election Commission is destroyed, all actions by the Election Commission will be questioned.

In the last statement, the Commissioner said that the CEC hoped that the CEC would maintain the good relations with all the Election Commissioners and follow the existing laws. Similarly, two other commissioners expressed dissatisfaction with the secretariat's work.

On last December 25, Mahbub Talukder questioned the votes of Barisal, Gazipur and Khulna City seeking reform of the election process. "In all the city corporations’ elections in the past, we had success in the first two elections - Comilla and Rangpur City Corporation elections. In the Barisal City Corporation elections, I was single-handedly responsible, and I went on to produce reports on the election of Gazipur City Corporation and Khulna City Corporation. But the experience of these three city corporation elections has not been pleasant to me. I do not want to see a repeat of the last three city corporation elections in the upcoming Dhaka City Corporation elections. 

   

Dhaka is the sixth most polluted city in the world, Seoul is on top



Staff Correspondent, Barta24.com
Photo: Collected

Photo: Collected

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Today, Dhaka is sixth in the list of the most polluted cities in the world. The air quality of the capital has become 'unhealthy' with an Air Quality Index (AQI) score of 172 at 6:50 am today.

South Korea's capital Seoul topped the air quality index with 343. South Korea's Incheon, Pakistan's Lahore, Vietnam's Chiang Mai and India's Delhi occupy the second, third, fourth and fifth places in the list with AQI scores of 217, 187, 179 and 177 respectively.

An AQI score between 101 and 200 is considered 'unhealthy' for sensitive groups. An AQI score between 201 and 300 is considered 'very unhealthy'. And an AQI between 301 and 400 is considered 'hazardous', posing a serious health risk to residents.

AQI in Bangladesh is determined based on 5 parameters of pollution, namely - Particulate Matter (PM10 & PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone (O3).

Dhaka has been suffering from air pollution for a long time. Its air quality generally becomes unhealthy during winters and improves slightly during monsoons.

In March 2019, a report by the Department of Environment and the World Bank stated that the three main causes of Dhaka's air pollution are brick kilns, smoke from vehicles and dust from construction activities.

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Taka 400 crores laundered through digital Hundi, controlled by Dubai



Staff Correspondent, Barta24.com
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Police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested 5 people for allegedly laundering around Tk. 400 crore abroad through Digital Hundi using Mobile Banking Service (MFS).

CID Chief Additional IGP Mohammad Ali Mia informed this in a press conference at CID headquarters on Thursday (March 28) afternoon.

The arrested are - Nasim Ahmed (62), the owner of Tasmia Associates, Fazle Rabbi Sumon (32), the territory sales manager of Agent SIM, Md. Kamruzzaman (33), Zahir Uddin (37), representative of Jet Robotics Apps Bangladesh and Khairul Islam alias Pius (34).

Additional IGP Mohammad Ali Mia said, a gang has smuggled around Tk. 400 crore abroad through digital Hundi using mobile banking services. Five members of this gang were arrested during the operation.

He said that Tk. 400 crores illegally came to Bangladesh through Jet Robotics app in the last few months. Police traced the app through intelligence.

He also said that the money of this gang was transacted from the Chattogram based distribution house. Five members of the gang were arrested in separate raids in Dhaka and Chattogram on Wednesday night.

He said that Tk. 28 lakh 51 thousand cash was seized from them at the time of arrest. He said that they used to rent development agent SIMS and deliver money through them to the grassroots level.

The head of CID said that Mamun, the master of this gang lives in Dubai. He is using agent SIM here. This app used for smuggling cannot work outside 48 SIM along the specific link sent from Dubai. Only seven people can enter this app.

Referring to this as a modern form of Hundi business, he said, money is being circulated in the country through this app by blocking remittances coming to Bangladesh. Already we got 5-7 more such organizations who are working like this.

He said, in the last three months, Tk. 400 crores have been hindered from coming to Bangladesh through Jet Robotic Apps. Five people using these apps have been arrested and their devices seized.

He said, Chattogram's development distribution house Tasmia Associates company has 1000 Bkash Agent SIMs. These agent SIMs who are not performing well, the agent SIMs provide DSOs to the users of Jet Robotic Apps.

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Demand for punishment for those responsible for electrocution death in Moulvibazar



Staff Correspondent, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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The death of 6 members of the same family due to electrocution in Moulvibazar is very shocking and heartbreaking. The chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Dr. Kamaluddin Ahmed said that the main responsible person and institution should be brought under accountability.

He made this comment at a discussion on 'Role of Media in Protection of Human Rights and Consumer Rights' organized by 'Business Digest' at a hotel in the capital on Thursday (March 28).

The Chairman of the Human Rights Commission said, after investigating the incident of Moulvibazar, appropriate legal action should be taken against those responsible and necessary measures should be taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. We could not do anything for one family, but we have to do for hundreds of such families.

He also said that the issue of rights is directly and indirectly the daily practice of the media. Media can question all the irregularities; make people aware of their rights and duties and play an important role in establishing rights. We can carry out reformative activities only in view of the news published in the media.

Dr. Kamal Uddin Ahmed called on the media workers to take all-out efforts to spread the necessary knowledge about the constitution, law and rights among the people.

At one stage of the discussion, he said about the recurrence of fires, we have not learned proper lessons from the big fires and explosions in Nimatli, Newmarket and Bangabazar in the past years. Had we taken effective measures, recurrence of fires could have been prevented.

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Suggestion to introduce Human Rights Wing in the Foreign Ministry



Staff Correspondent, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recommended setting up a new wing on human rights to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The suggestion was made at the parliamentary committee meeting held at Jatiya Sangsad Bhavan on Thursday (March 28). After the meeting, this information was informed in a press release of the Parliament Secretariat.

The meeting recommended taking necessary steps to recognize March 25 as International Genocide Day. A proposal was made in the meeting to visit the Rohingya camps Kutupalong and Bhasanchar with the members of the Standing Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Chairman of the committee AK Abdul Momen chaired the meeting and members of the committee and Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud, Shahriar Alam, Nahim Razzak, Nizam Uddin Jalil, Nurul Islam Nahid, Habibur Rahman, Saimum Sarwar, Zara Zabeen Mahbub took part in the meeting. #

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