Noman Sabit: Rab-Ruhul Parishad has won the elections of Bangladesh Society in New York of the United States as per the previous plan of the Election Commission. According to the table prepared by the Election Commission, the election of Bangladesh Society was held last Sunday (September 18). Rab-Ruhul Parishad won in this. For the last four years, the Bangladeshi expatriates in New York have been fearing this. This election was suspended for four years as a result of lawsuits on various charges. Finally, Chief Election Commissioner Jamal Ahmed Jani’s dream has been fulfilled, expatriates said. He has finally done what he had secretly planned for the past four years to win over a particular pannel.
In the election held on Sunday (September 18), Abdur Rab Mia was elected as president and Ruhul Amin Siddiqui as a general secretary. After the polling in 5 centers of New York City, Chief Election Commissioner Jamal Ahmed Jani announced the final results around 12 midnight. Members of the Election Commission along with former leaders of the society, candidates, supporters and well-wishers of the two pannels were present.
As a result of litigation on various charges, allegations of widespread irregularities and nepotism have been raised against the Election Commission in this election, which has been suspended for almost four years. On the eve of the Bangladesh Society elections on October 21, 2018, there were allegations that the current Election Commission very cleverly filed the nomination papers of Rab-Ruhul Parishad president candidate Md. Rab Mia in the ballot paper as Abdur Rab Mia in the name of the so-called affidavit for ‘taking advantage of the A line’. His name is clearly recorded as Md Rab Mia in the voter list of Bangladesh Society. Moreover, he has elected as Md. Rab Mia in the Noakhali Samity elections and his valid identity card has no name as Abdur Rab Mia. Nomination papers of at least two separate candidates were incomplete on the day of submission of nomination papers. Can’t submit their passports. The election commissioner gave these two people the opportunity to complete the nomination form by bringing their passports from that Brooklyn.
In the election ballot held on Sunday (September 18), Md Rab Mia’s name was mentioned as Mohammad R Mia. If the ballots were arranged with the first or last initials of the panel heads, the first and last letter ‘M’ of Mohammad R Mia would have gone on line B instead of A. Meanwhile, the first and last initials of the other candidate Kazi Ashraf Hossain are K and H. Accordingly his name would have gone on line A instead of B. No one understands the rules by which the Election Commission has arranged the ballot papers. Such irregularities and nepotism have never been seen before in the history of elections in Bangladesh society.
According to the constitution of Bangladesh society, 7 commissioners will conduct the election, out of which 1 will be the chairman of the election commission. The executive council of the society nominated 7 people. One of the 7 commissioners was Mohiuddin Dewan, he was nominated and participated in the policy-making meeting of the Election Commission as usual. Moreover, he participated in all the processes including bylaws. At that time, the election schedule signed by him was circulated in various local media. He has been suddenly resigned from the post of EC to participate in the elections and submitted nomination papers for Rab-Ruhul Parishad. Article 16 Section 4 Clauses A-B of the Constitution states that no member of the Election Commission can participate in the election. Can’t even vote. No one knows how the Election Commission declared the validity of his participation in the election on the basis of which law. There are many questions among expatriates about this?
It is to be noted that the society’s bi-annual elections were scheduled to be held on Sunday, October 21, 2018. In this election of Bangladesh Society, 37 candidates competed for 19 positions of the executive council including two panels. 19 candidates from Rab-Ruhul Parishad and 17 candidates from Nayan-Ali Parishad are contesting for 19 posts of the executive council of the society. Also former general secretary of the society Zainal Abedin contested for the post of president and Sohel for the post of general secretary independently. However, no campaigning of Zainal Abedin and Abdul Momen was noticed in the election activities. These two candidates voluntarily abstained from the election since filing their nomination papers.
The winning candidates of Rab-Ruhul panel are: Mohammad R Mia won with 3160 votes for the post of president, nearest rival Kazi Ashraf Hossain got 2540 votes and Zainal Abedin got 67 votes, Ruhul Amin Siddiqui (re-elected) got 3189 votes for the post of general secretary, nearest Rival Mohammad Ali got 2479 votes and Abdul Momen got 67 votes. Senior Vice President Md. Mohiuddin Dewan got 3214 votes, nearest rival Abdur Rahim Hawladar got 2420 votes, vice-president Farooq U Chowdhury got 3052 votes, nearest rival Rezaul Karim Sagir got 2440 votes, Aminul Chowdhury got 2875 votes for assistant general secretary, nearest rival Mia Mohammad Dulal got 2650 votes, for treasurer Noashed Hossain got 2982 votes, closest rival Mohammad Khan Duke got 2533 votes, Abul Kalam Bhuiyan got 2937 votes for the post of organizing secretary, nearest rival Ahsan Habib got 2594 votes, Cultural Secretary- Dr. Shahnaz Lipi got 2990 votes, nearest rival Manika Roy got 2560 votes. Rezu Mohammad (re-elected) for polling, public relations and publicity secretary got 3291 votes, nearest rival Sheikh Haider Ali got 2239 votes, Khan Mohammad Tipu for social welfare secretary got 2943 votes, nearest rival Kashem Chowdhury got 2532 votes, Foyisol Ahmed for literature secretary Got 3020 votes, nearest rival Mohammad Hasan Jilani got 2493 votes, Mainul Uddin Mahbub got 2975 votes for sports and entertainment secretary, nearest rival Md. Rashid Rana got 2551 votes, Pradeep Bhattacharya got 2759 votes for school and education secretary, nearest rival Md. Samad Mia. (Zaker) received 2672 votes, and As an executive member Saadi Mintu (re-elected) got 2913 votes, nearest rival Saidur Khan Duke got 2251 votes, Farhana Chowdhury (re-elected) got 3210 votes, nearest rival Md. Mahmud Alam got 2340 votes, Shah M Rahman got 2909 votes, nearest rival Md. Siddique got 2606 votes, Abul Bashar Bhuiya got 2993, nearest rival Ahsan Ullah Mamun got 2503 votes, Md. A Akhtar got 3167 votes (no nearest rival) and Sushanta Datta got 2949 votes (no nearest rival).
BP/SM
