Last Updated on August 29, 2025 5:37 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
Zakir Hossain / Dhaka
Bangladesh Election Commissioner Md Anwarul Islam Sarkar on Friday said the upcoming 13th parliamentary polls would be the “most risky in history”, stressing there was “no alternative” to holding a free and fair election.
“In this country, so much blood has been shed, so many lives lost. If proper elections had been held, none of this would have happened,” Sarkar told officials at the Electoral Training Institute in Dhaka. Warning against irregularities, he said, “Lives may be lost. But there can be no deceit, no fraud. Presiding officers are the nucleus—if 50,000 of them discharge duties properly, the election will go well.”
Admitting the EC’s “institutional memory” had weakened, he urged staff to act responsibly, safeguard confidentiality and uphold the commission’s dignity. “If one day a garland of shoes ends up around the CEC’s neck, you too will share that responsibility,” he cautioned.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said the election would be the “most challenging” yet, with new threats such as abuse of social media, misinformation and law-and-order risks. “Our bottom line is professionalism and neutrality. You must send out this message,” he told trainers.
Another commissioner, Abdur Rahmanel Masud, noted that a former CEC was “garlanded with shoes” and another is now in jail. “It is unfortunate. We must analyse why this situation has come,” he said.
Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah added that the upcoming polls must set “an example” in Bangladesh, urging officials to perform duties with honesty and neutrality.