GCC polls held in free and fair manner: EC

Expressing satisfaction over the Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) polls held on Thursday, Election Commissioner Md Alamgir said the election was held in a free, fair and peaceful manner.

"As per the information we received from the law enforcement agencies and our observers, the election was peaceful and fair," he told a press conference at the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat in Dhaka at around 5:30 pm after the end of the voting of the GCC polls.

According to the information received by EC, the election commissioner said the voter turnout was about 50 percent. 

Claiming that many were afraid of getting involved in irregularities as CCTV cameras were installed in polling centres, he said agents at two centers tried to influence voters and that was why they were detained.

"We found no report of irregularities in other centres. I took action where irregularities were noticed. There were more than 4,000 CCTV cameras. It was not possible to monitor every camera at once," Alamgir said.

But, he said, many people were afraid of doing irregularities because of the CCTV cameras and that was a success.

Replying to a question about whether there would be CCTV cameras in the upcoming national elections, the election commissioner said it is too early to say whether there will be CCTV cameras in the national elections or not. 

The decision will be taken to this end when the polls schedule is announced, he said.

Source: BSS