The Electoral Reform Commission is likely to recommend an investigation into irregularities during the last three national polls held under ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

A huge drain on state exchequer

There’s no reason to believe the current EC has either the will or the ability to act independently

Proposed curbing of EC’s power sends a wrong message at the wrong time

A fair election will require much more than token initiatives

A genuinely inclusive election depends on a wide range of factors, many of which the Election Commission cannot even begin to address

Six by-polls are proof that there is a lot to be done before general election

The Election Commission’s probe committee has found that around 100 people, including election officials, were involved in electoral irregularities during the Gaibandha-5 by-polls on October 12.

The EC has failed to assure the people that EVMs will not lead to electoral fraud

The Election Commission has received scores of complaints over anomalies in the fifth phase of the union parishad polls held on May 28.

The election to 614 union parishads in the third phase of UP polls yesterday saw some stray incidents of violence and electoral

Senior BNP leader Nazrul Islam Khan alleges that the third phase of union parishad (UP) elections were also marred by “massive vote rigging and irregularities”, like the first and second phases.

Like in the first phase, violence and irregularities marked the second-phase polls to union parishads yesterday, leaving at least eight people dead and around 130 others wounded in clashes and firing. One of the dead is a 10-year-old boy, who went with his uncle to see voting, and another a Dhaka University student who went to his village ahead of the polls.

BNP urges Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed to announce cancellation of phase 1 and 2 of Union Parishad elections over irregularities and violence across the country.

Turnout in the first phase of Union Parishad elections was about 74 percent, says Election Commission Secretary Sirazul Islam.