Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said on Thursday that no election is above controversy and even the 12th parliamentary national election is not.
"No election has gone beyond controversy. The election we are satisfied with has not gone beyond controversy," he said.
The CEC made the remarks while addressing a thanksgiving event for holding the 12th parliamentary election in a fair and successful manner at the auditorium of Nirbachan Bhaban on Thursday.
He said that the recently held election was not very participatory as a major party not only boycotted the election but also wanted to prevent it from taking place.
“The nation has finally been content as the election was held,” he said.
Mentioning that both slander and bad name have to be taken, he said that it is not possible to make such a big job successful without the support of the government.
“The nation has overcome the crisis through the election,” he said.
Anyone can challenge the percentage of voter turnout: CEC
The Election Commission does not get acceptance if the politicians do not have confidence, he said.
Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Md. Ahsan Habib Khan said, "I have been successful by working with faith. I can't go down from the standard I reached. We will show you how this commission works. It will be exemplary for the future.”
Another Commissioner Anisur Rahman said they were firm that they would take their decision if they could not hold a free, fair and peaceful election.
About the turnout of the voters, he said there would not be any confusion if the last briefing on the voting turnout was with three pieces of information at 3:30 pm.
“If challenged, we can show it. This is the first time that an election investigation committee formed in every constituency has worked. The executive magistrates also did a good job,” he said.
CEC estimates 40 per cent turnout in Sunday’s election, appreciates govt cooperation
Highlighting the election process, commissioner Md Alamgir said they have successfully completed party registration, voter list, demarcation of constituencies, and recruitment of election officers, holding dialogue and observers’ registration.
Chaired by EC Secretary Md Jahangir Alam, other election commissioners spoke on the occasion.