Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Maulana ATM Masum has issued the following statement on 19 November 2019 protesting and condemning the report of Daily Prothom Alo titled “নতুন আমীর নিয়ে জামায়াতে নানা প্রশ্ন” (Series of questions centering Jamaat’s newly elected Ameer).

“Daily Prothom Alo has published this false report just to create confusion among the leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami in a bid to demean the organization.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is a democratic Islamic party with a long historical tradition and heritage. This organization is operating its activities according to its constitution. The constitution set enough rules and regulations to hold the internal electoral process of the organization. There is no space for influencing the electoral process. Even, there is no way for seeking votes directly or indirectly. Mr. Maqbul Ahmad is still leading the organization as the Ameer. Due to his old age complications, earlier he had placed his appeal seeking exemption from the party post. He also appealed to exclude himself from the panel during the Ameer election process. Central Executive Committee accepted his plea and circulated the information among the Majlish-e-Shura members. So, the reporter’s claim of excluding him intentionally is a false claim.

Daily Prothom Alo’s report’s claim that Dr. Shafiqur Rahman bagged 6 votes more to clinch number one position in the panel is also another concoction. The female and male Shura members casted their votes in the same ballot paper and as such there was no provision of counting the votes from gender perspective at all. All this information is nothing but a fabricated story of the concerned reporter. The members of Jamaat-e-Islami from all over the country casted their votes maintaining due devotion, secrecy and accountability.

Their claim of ‘announcing result so hurriedly’ is also an irrational claim. The casting of votes for this election held from 17th October to 10 November. The concerned presiding officers and two assistants from the local organizations were assigned to count votes at local levels. They sent their written results to the chief election commissioner. Subsequently, the chief election commission and 4 other commissioners compiled the counted votes and declared the final result on 12th November. So, there is no way of raising question about so called ‘hurriedness’. The entire process of this election has been made according to the system and constitutional regulations.

The vote casting and the announcement of result has been done this time with due transparency and confidentiality. The newly elected Ameer will take his oath within days. So, such a kind of report should not be published with an intention to mislead the people. We hope that the Prothom Alo authority would publish the rejoinder properly to lessen such confusion.