Appointment of 300 UZ Poll Staff
Agency reports graft, suggests action
Staff Correspondent
An intelligence agency report identifying corruption and opacity in recruiting 300 upazila election officers through the Public Service Commission (PSC) in 2005 has recommended taking actions to free the Election Commission (EC) from such controversy before the next elections. The Ministry of Home Affairs recently sent the probe report to the EC requesting it to take actions in the light of the recommendations made by the intelligence agency, sources said. On receiving the report, the EC at a meeting last week decided to examine the efficiency of the controversial upazila election officers through authorising an organisation other than the PSC to review their capacity for doing the job, sources said. "Each of the upazila election officers will have to prove their ability to do the job, appearing in an examination. An officer will be dismissed if he fails to prove his efficiency," said a source present at the EC meeting. Terms and conditions of service of the upazila election officers also allow the EC to dismiss anyone from the service within two years of his joining without consulting with the PSC, if he or she is found incapable of doing the job. The upazila election officers, who joined the posts on September 26, 2005, will complete their two years' probationary period in September this year. They were supposed to complete various training programmes including a foundation course during the probationary period. But the EC Secretariat did not provide them any training since their joining, sources said. Serious controversy followed their joining as they were recruited on political considerations and through bribery. A large number of them were involved with Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student front of BNP. Last year, the upazila election officials were involved in updating the voter list that contained an unusually large number of fake voters. But the then EC led by Chief Election Commissioner Justice MA Aziz did not take any action against them. Justice Aziz on several occasions defended their appointment saying that the PSC recruited them following proper procedure. The credibility of the upazila election officers, who were appointed on political considerations and through corruption, has been questioned but no steps were taken to resolve the controversy over the officers who are directly involved in the task of holding the election, said a intelligence agency probe report recently submitted to the home ministry. A policy decision is immediately required to avert further controversy before holding the next parliamentary election, the report said.
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