Demanding for rescheduling of elections in Dhaka north and south city corporations, a group of Dhaka University students staged demonstration for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.
The Election Commission has fixed schedule for the elections on January 30 which coincides with Saraswati Puja, an important religious festival of the Hindu community.
Chanting slogans, the protesters along with holding placards gathered in front of the Raju Sculpture on the DU campus. Later, they marched forward towards the Election Bhaban in Agargaon, but police intercepted them at Shahbagh.
The agitated students then blocked Shahbagh intersection to register their protest. The students earlier on Tuesday gave an 18-hour ultimatum to the authorities concerned threatening to besiege the Election Bhaban if their demand is not met within the stipulated time.
In the mean time, the High Court rejected a writ petition filed for shifting the election date.
The Election Commission on December 22 announced the elections of Dhaka’s two city corporations on January 30 though the Education Ministry on December 2 last year fixed the date as a public holiday for the Saraswati Puja. The Election Commission is now saying that it’s not possible to bring forward the date as SSC exam will began on February 2.
However, the High Court Division decided not to make holding election their affair. The Election Commission is the proper authority to take into consideration the real difficulties in the way of fixing election date.
For some people it is easy to go to the Supreme Court with everything without caring to know that it is unwelcome for the court to meddle in everything. Anybody who wants to blame the Commission for not recognising the real difficulty should know that Election Commission cannot go against the desire of the government.
The demand for changing the election schedule did not come from the candidates too. We are also surprised why some students of Dhaka University got involved in protesting against no-change-decision of the Commission.
But yet we understand the reason for tension over the election date. There are many serious grievances against too many wrongs of the government. It is in power without caring for the sanctity of the election. The government has confirmed again and again that the free election is not what it wants.
So there is also grave doubt about the capacity of the Commission to hold the election free and fair when nothing wrong was found in police managed robbery of the last general election.
The Commission had proved its lack of integrity to be honest to hold the election fairly. The elections are government affairs in our present politics.
The false propaganda is one thing but facing the people for support is not so easy for a government, which depends on lies.
