Sagar Biswas :
Members of the civil society have suggested the Election Commission to gain people’s confidence as the pre-condition of holding a free, fair and credible national election.
Apart from reinstatement of ‘no’ vote, at the same time, the civil society members have prescribed a dozen of suggestions, including participation of all parties in the polls and deployment of armed forces as the law enforcement agencies.
The above suggestions came at the ‘dialogue’ with the civil society members held at Nirbachon Bhaban in the city’s Agargaon on Monday which was arranged apparently with a view to making the next general election free, fair, impartial and credible.
Especially, the civil society members laid emphasis on creating a level playing field and ensure casting of votes by the genuine voters being free from fear and pressure. They also suggested to conduct the next parliamentary elections courageously and strictly. The commission had invited 59 persons to attend the programme, but half of the invitees did not take part in the dialogue. Presided over by the Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda, only 30 civil society members joined the event to place their suggestions.
Of the invitees, there were former advisers to the caretaker governments, economists, political scientists, media personalities, educationists and former ambassadors. At first, the commission will prepare a draft of the suggestions and it will be finalised in the December.
On the first day of the dialogue, M Hafiz Uddin Khan, Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, Rasheda K Chowdhury, , former Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Farash Uddin, Centre for Policy Dialogue fellow Dr Devapriya Bhattacharya, former Cabinet Secretary Ali Inam Mazumder, Local Government expert Dr Tofail Ahmed, Dhaka University Professor Syed Anwar Hossain, Professor Ajoy Roy, Professor Asif Nazrul, Professor Mahbuba Nasreen and Political Scientist Dilara Chowdhury.
The participants were mainly asked to give their suggestions about the ‘roadmap’ or ‘the work plan for the next parliamentary polls’ targeting the 11th Parliamentary elections due between October 30, 2018 and January 28, 2019.
After the dialogue, CEC KM Nurul Huda said, “The differences of views were not much among us. We’ll take those suggestions only which are acceptable in line with the country’s existing law and the Constitution.
Replying to a question, he said, “Some civil society members have suggested not to allow anyone as a candidate whose name had surfaced in the Panama Papers. But there is nothing about it in the existing law. However, we will see about this.”
The CEC also assumed that the political parties could reach in an ‘understanding’ about participating in the polls. But there is no pressure on them over the issue, he said.
Among others, former State Minister for Foreign Affairs Abul Hassan Chowdhury, former Chairman of Public Service Commission Sadat Husain, former Secretary AHM Abul Quasem, former Secretary Rakib Uddin Mandol, Jahangir Nagar University Vice-Chancellor Tareq Shamshur Rehman, former Ambassador Wali-Ur Rahman, former Ambassador AF Golam Hossain, Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh Dr Iftekheruzzaman and Sanjeeb Drong took part in the dialogue.
Other important suggestions that came from the civil society members include arrangement of direct voting instead of keeping reserved seat for the women. They urged not to employ politically connected persons as the election officials.
Besides, the civil society members suggested not to allow mobile phones in the polling booths, making new electoral code as no media could conduct propaganda against any political party or person.
Earlier on July 16, the CEC unveiled a booklet named ‘roadmap’ containing the EC’s action plan for the next general election.
