Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud today (Oct 19) said legal experts and specialists are of the view that to see who is voting for whom by installing CC cameras at secret booths is a violation of personal privacy.
"As per the legal experts, the Election Commission has interfered with the fundamental rights of citizens by doing that in Gaibandha-5 by-polls. I also saw the issue at social platforms and different online portals which published news and articles criticizing it," he said.
The minister said this to reporters, replying to a query at the meeting room of his ministry at the Secretariat in the capital.
Hasan said, "It is not my own statement. The opinions of people at social platforms, journalists of mass media and other intellectuals are that the secret booth is secret and people will cast their vote secretly. This is his or her right. The secret booth will not be secret if anyone sees who is voting for whom by installing CC cameras and if the scene is shown to others. So, legal experts are saying that it is an 'infringement of privacy or violation of personal privacy. The opinions of common people and legal experts are that it is interference with the fundamental rights of people."
The minister said once Shamim Osman had shown in front of the media whom he voted for. As a result, the EC gave him a notice and said that 'you cannot show it before the mass media or people, said Hasan, also Awami League joint general secretary.
He said it is an 'infringement of privacy' if the Election Commission, which served notice earlier, see it themselves.
He said there might be CC camera at polling centres to see any untoward situation and there is no obligation if the EC think that it will be helpful. But the experts are claiming that it interfered on the fundamental rights to see who is voting for whom by installing CC camera.
He said the field-level officers of that election are telling that the polls were held in a fair manner. On the other hand, the EC, by seeing CC camera footage, thought that there were other people in polling centers, he added.
He said, "I'm voting for so long, but didn't vote by EVM. I should have known how to vote with EVM. And the people of the village normally ask 'how to vote'. That time, agents of candidates or polling officers help those people. The Election Commission watched it by telescope. I don't know how they identified who are agents, who are officers or who are outsiders."