A LEADING daily reported on Thursday the government has appointed 175 returning officers from Additional Deputy Commissioners and Upazila Nirbahi Officers for Municipal Election, despite the fact that the Election Commission (EC) has its own officers in every district to hold the elections. The question is whether will they be able to give an acceptable election. The hastily called elections to 243 municipalities on December 30 has already generated widespread criticism because the government is working in a way to keep the opposition BNP and such other parties out of the race. The Joint Forces operations are indiscriminately arresting prospective opposition candidates and their workers or chasing them from their homes and the locality on charges of politically motivated cases so that they don’t feel free to contest the polls. We believe that the government could make it free to bring change to the country’s politics by making the polls free.
Political observers hold the view that in the prevailing situation opposition nominated candidates would find it really difficult to file nominations and hold the ground upto the elections. There is hardly any level playing field and many fears now that with the appointment of government’s own administrative service men as returning officers the chance of a fair poll has further diminished. Even many EC officials were quoted in the report as saying that they fear the election process may not remain under their control where Ministers, Ruling Party law-makers and local leaders would attempt to get their candidates elected as Mayor and Councillors.
As it appears that the EC has 700 election officers across the country essentially recruited to hold elections. But at most places they have been placed as Deputy Returning Officers apparently to hold the entire election process under the Government control. The EC Secretary has reportedly said time is not yet ripe to entrust EC’s own election officers to hold the polls. It is not clear what he meant. But the EC as it stands boneless, sold out and openly subservient to the political wishes of the government appears even more ready to play the strategic role to get ruling party men elected as the election is going to be held this time on party line. Earlier the EC had formulated local body election rules allowing Ministers, law-makers and such other party leaders to run the electioneering campaign for party nominated candidates. It was rather the Law Ministry, which vetoed the provision claiming that it would be unfair to run a fair election. But by nominating the government officials as returning officers, the government has made the election victory of ruling party nominated candidates absolute.
Election engineering at national level has only helped the political parties who were complicit to make money, the people have not been helped. Either hold free and fair elections or do not help the corrupt ones to call them people’s representatives. The whole administration suffer badly for the reason of having people-defying people’s representatives. Who are anxious to gain personally.
