Election Commission weighs plan to halve polls observers

The Election Commission is considering to halve the number of polls observers.

As many as 120 election observers are registered with the commission, but most of them cannot be seen on the ground during balloting.

Many of the observers have hailed as positive the move by the new EC headed by KM Nurul Huda at its second meeting.

According to the minutes of the meeting held on Mar 28, three of the five election commissioners recommended checking the presence of the polls observers, bringing the journalists under a separate guideline and monitoring the observers.

EC's Public Relations Department Director SM Asaduzzaman is in charge of supervising the observers.

He told bdnews24.com that 120 organisations were given registration as election observers for the first time in 2011.

The five-year validity of the registration was extended twice until June this year.

EC officials said a significant number of those organisations do not observe elections. And only a few of them that do observe vote submit regular reports to the EC.

A total of 75 local organisations observed the ninth parliamentary election. The number dropped to 35 in the next general election.

In the local government elections, the number of observers dwindled greatly. The Narayanganj City Corporation election last year was observed by only 16 organisations.

Election Commissioners Rafiqul Islam, Mahbub Talukder, and Kabita Khanam are in favour of halving the number of observers.

National Election Observation Council (Janipop) has welcomed the move.

"It's meaningless to keep those who do not work after getting registration to observe elections," its Chairman Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah told bdnews24.com.

He feared some organisations may try to create disorder 'in the name of observing elections' during the next parliamentary election.

Abdul Alim, director of Election Working Group, a platform of 28 observers, said many got registered under the EC to use the name for other purposes.