Dhaka: Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda on Thursday claimed that his commission was ‘100 percent successful’ in earning public trust by holding fair elections to the Comilla City Corporation.

“We’ve become 100 percent successful in earning trust of all by holding the election in fair manner. We claim that we’ve become successful in this election,” he said at a post-election press conference at the Election Commission Secretariat in the city.

The CEC said the election was held in a peaceful atmosphere except one or two stray incidents on Thursday.

Comilla City Corporation election is the first major election under the present Election Commission led by KM Nurul Huda, which took charge in February.

Besides, the by-election to Sunamganj-2 (Dirai-Shalla) constituency that fell vacant following the death of Awami League MP Suranjit Sengupta was also held on Thursday in a peaceful manner.

The CEC said all eyes were on Comilla election as it was a politically competitive election. “We also took measures to make the election credible to all and we’ve been able to conduct the balloting successfully,” he went on.

Replying to a question he said, “We don’t want to sit for any test. We appeared at many examinations from our childhood. Now it is not time to face test, rather it is time to work. We’re determined to work with sincerity and honesty.”

KM Nurul Huda said the Sunamganj-2 by-election was held in peaceful manner completely, while one or two stray incidents occurred in Comilla election.

He said they would investigate the allegations BNP placed before the Election Commission regarding Comilla city polls. BNP sent some specific allegations to the EC through fax all day long. 

About BNP’s allegations, he said the EC engaged its Secretary to examine authenticity of the allegations but most of these are not true. Actions also were taken on the basis of some true allegation, he added.

“We don’t have any specific information about who influenced the voting. But we postponed the balloting in two polling stations where stray incidents took place. Besides, attempts to create chaos were thwarted within few minutes in some other places,” he went on.

The CEC said those who tried to create chaos were curbed with iron hand. The arrangement of fair elections will continue in the future as well, he added.