EC says its consent not needed to arrest accused running civic polls

Election Commission does not have the legal authority to prevent arrest of candidates in the civic polls as demanded of it by the BNP.

“I am not aware that permission of the Election Commission is required to arrest anyone,” Commissioner Md Shah Nawaz told reporters on Tuesday.

A group of advisers of the opposition alliance recently held a meeting with the CEC seeking commission’s intervention to prevent “arrest and harassment” of BNP leaders who would take part in the corporation elections amid the party’s anti-government agitation. 

Soon after the meeting, Joint Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Monirul Islam had told reporters police would not hesitate to arrest any candidate accused in a case, unless they secured bail from court.

There are cases over acts of sabotage filed against many of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, who have submitted nominations for elections in Dhaka North and South and Chittagong.  

Many of these candidates were not personally present while submitting the nominations.

Though they could submit their nominations through their representatives, they were now uncertain about the fate of their campaign. 

Even Shah Nawaz is aware that criminal cases are pending against many of the 1833 candidates, including 60 mayoral aspirants, who are in the fray. 

He said scrutiny of the nomination papers of the candidates, who were convicted or accused, would be done according to the law.

When asked whether the EC’s permission would be required to arrest any candidate, he said, “Law is very clear on the matter. What has to be done and how an arrest can be executed are categorically mentioned. Everything will be done as per the existing rules.”

“We are not aware of any rule or code of conduct that stipulates that our consent is required for police or the administration to arrest anyone,” he said.

Submission of nominations ends

Commissioner Shah Nawaz also stated that there was no scope for consideration of any appeal after the time for nomination submission was up.  

There were allegations that 20-25 aspirants could not file nominations for Dhaka South City Corporation after 5pm on Sunday.

Returning Officer Mihir Sarwar Morshed reportedly did not accept their nominations.

When his attention was drawn to the allegation, Shah Nawaz said, “The returning officer has done the right thing.

“There was no scope for accepting nominations after the end of the deadline at 5pm. There is no chance of considering this appeal.” 

He also warned any breach of electoral code of conduct would not go unpunished. 

“Action will be taken if there is any breach of code of conduct irrespective of who the violator is,” he cautioned.