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Uncontested elections are a serious concern for the state of democracy, Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukder said Tuesday.
Referring to the series of unopposed winners in the ongoing Union Parishad (UP) elections as a matter of concern, EC Mahbub Talukder said it is “probably not possible, nor even appropriate” in a democratic state structure to encourage uncontested elections.
He said this to the reporters, after a meeting on the UP election law and order situation at Chattogram circuit house.
Mahbub Talukder said that a trend has been set.
"As 360 UP chairmen have been elected unopposed, according to the newspapers and 1,600 candidates have been elected unopposed to other posts, such a culture has developed.”
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In order to get out of this situation, we need to consider whether we need to make any changes in the electoral system or not, he said
In the sixth phase of UP elections, voting will be done by EVM system. “We have taken this as a challenge. The schedule has already been announced. Every effort will be made to make this election fair,” he added
The speakers at the meeting discussed the law and order situation ahead of the fourth phase of UP elections on December 26. EC Mahbub Talukder was the chief guest at the meeting, which was chaired by Divisional Commissioner Kamrul Hasan.