I cannot guarantee violence-free UP polls: CEC

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda has said he cannot guarantee polls free from violence in the upcoming phase of union parishad elections.

"In the next elections, we will try our best to prevent violence. However, we cannot guarantee that there will be no violence, no fighting," he said at the Election Commission office in the capital on Wednesday, while briefing reporters after a meeting on the election law and order situation, particularly for the third phase of the UP polls. 

The third phase of the election is scheduled to be held on 28 November to elect representatives for 1,007 union parishads. 

It is impossible to stop the violence by guarding every house and place, he said, adding that they took several decisions in the meeting to prevent such incidents the country has witnessed in the previous phases of the UP elections. 

Most of the violence took place late at night, around 3am, and police could not reach the incident spots to control the situation immediately, according to the chief election commissioner.

Nurul Huda urged all to assist from their positions so that no such incidents occur again. 

The first phase of the election ended in two segments – 21 June for 204 union parishads, 20 September for 160 – which left at least six dead and hundreds wounded.  

The second phase for 834 union parishads on 11 November also saw at least 7 casualties, and hundreds injured. 

Thirty-three people were also killed in pre-electoral violence. 

The CEC, however, termed the previous phases of elections a success. 

"Overall, the polls were a success, other than some isolated incidents," he said, noting that about 70% of the voters could exercise their voting rights in the polls.  

On the overall activities of the Election Commission, he said it was now under pressure with a huge number of polls in the pipeline, since they could not arrange elections amid lockdowns and movement restrictions with the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

The meeting outcomes

"In the meeting, we decided to identify the locations which remain at risk of violence during the polls, and to strictly patrol these points to halt any probable violence," the CEC told reporters.

"We also instructed law enforcement agencies to increase their intelligence surveillance."

The CEC said they will ask the agencies to arrest local roughnecks who are likely to spark unrest. "Already many rioters have been arrested, and some are still being looked for. Now we have instructed law enforcement agencies to arrest such aggressive people in advance."

On the role of parliament members, he said some MPs were not complying with polling directives, though a majority of them were complying. Those not complying have in the meantime been served show-cause letters.

"Legal proceedings against them are also underway," the CEC said.