Election complaints rise to 344, nearly half against field officers

The Electoral Enquiry and Adjudication Committee imposes fines on 15 cases totalling Tk 105,500

The Election Commission (EC) has received 344 complaints related to the parliamentary polls and referendum, with almost half directed at field officials.

Md Saiful Islam, director (Operations) of the National Identity Registration Wing and member secretary of the central coordination committee for the election, shared the figures on Thursday.

According to the breakdown, 144 complaints have been lodged against different officials, while 201 relate to violations of the election code of conduct and other issues.

Saiful noted that executive magistrates have initiated 212 cases concerning code of conduct violations between Jan 8 and Feb 4.

These actions have resulted in fines totalling Tk 2.3 million.

Separately, the Electoral Inquiry and Adjudication Committee fined Tk 105,500 in 15 cases, pushing the overall penalty figure to more than Tk 2.4 million.

Despite the volume of allegations, Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud described the current atmosphere as “sufficiently and relatively good”.

Speaking on Wednesday, he said the commission believes the electoral environment is in good shape and certainly better than in the past.

The general election and the referendum are scheduled to take place on Feb 12.