No reason for delay in election results: EC Secretary

Senior secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat Akhtar Ahmed has said there is no reason for any delay in announcing the results of the upcoming election.

He said every ballot would be counted. Voting will begin at 7.30am on February 12 and counting will be completed by 10am the following day, Friday.

The EC secretary made the remarks at a press conference held on Monday, February 9, at the Election Building in Agargaon, Dhaka.

Asked about claims that counting could take three to five days due to the large-scale voting, he said there was no possibility of it taking five days to complete the count. “We will finish counting by 10am on Friday. Every ballot must be counted and that time has to be given. Voter numbers are not the same in all constituencies. Besides, officials also want to go home after completing the count, so no one will sit idle with ballots,” he said.

He added that there were no longer any concerns regarding voting, as the election was very close. All forms of campaigning would stop from Wednesday morning and steps would be taken to ensure campaigning also ceases on social media. Digital campaigning would be closely monitored.

Expressing satisfaction with the overall law and order situation, Akhtar Ahmed said conditions were good so far and no serious incidents had been reported. However, he described the two deaths in election-related violence as “sad and condemnable”.

Regarding statements and counter-allegations by political leaders, he said speeches and counter-speeches at rallies and meetings were part of the election process and, so far, such statements had remained within acceptable limits.