Anisul Islam Noor :
Though there is hardly a month left for the announcement of national election schedule, the two major political parties’ led alliances have remained at loggerheads over the issue of election-time government, analysts said.
The opposition parties have long been demanding a neutral poll-time government, dissolution of parliament before the polls, and deployment of the army personnel during the election.
Former election commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain told the media that the present Election Commission (EC) would have a tough time in keeping the situation under control if there was a competitive election participated by all.
The EC faced problems in conducting the local government elections and so it would have to decide how to overcome these problems in the coming national elections, he added.
Though there is ongoing political crisis as well as lingering lack of confidence, the EC has no visible initiative to ensure a participatory election under a political government.
BNP and other parties of its alliance also have lack confidence on the Election Commission and they have been repeatedly demanded its reconstitution.
The EC seems to be reluctant to do anything beyond its regular duties, let alone taking any initiative to ensure a participatory, credible election even under a political government, said the election analysts.
However, they said, though the EC may not be able to do anything about constitutional matters, it can put pressure on the government to create an environment conducive to the polls.
The EC is likely to announce the polls’ schedule at the beginning of November and to hold the elections at the end of December or start of January.
An election commissioner, preferring not to be named, told The New Nation that the EC itself is a powerful institution and it has stringent laws.
“The stringency of the laws makes no difference if these are not applied. The laws should certainly be implemented during the national elections,” he said.
Four commissioners of the five-member Commission, in a recent unofficial note to the EC Secretary, complained that they were hardly ever informed about important issues. They were not even consulted election-related issues like holding training, seminars, workshops and so on.
Meanwhile, the EC has announced to use electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the upcoming national elections, even if on a limited scale.
Accordingly, the government highest policy-making body, ECNEC has approved procurement of EVM and the Commission proposed that the use of EVM be included in the Representation of the People Order ( RPO).
During the dialogue with EC last year, the election experts had said that the elections would have to be held in accordance to the Constitution. They proposed that a few Ministries would be placed under the EC during the election.
They also said it would be meaningless to deploy the army if they were placed under a magistrate. The army should be included in the RPO’s definition of law enforcement agencies. A security plan is required to specify the duties of various security forces.
These matters are completely in the EC’s jurisdiction but it did nothing about this during the city corporation elections. In fact, those polls were under total control of the police.
Shujon Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said, the law and the Constitution have given the EC a lot of power. If it wants, it can control the government during the elections. They can refuse to conduct the election if the government does not act neutrally.
He feels the Commission should have another round of talks with the political parties before the elections.
The upcoming 11th Jatiya Sangsad elections will be the second one to be held since the caretaker government system was abolished.
BNP and other opposition parties boycotted the 10th parliamentary election, demanding a neutral poll-time government. This time too, other than Awami League and its allies, the opposition parties are demanding that the election be held under a neutral government.
BNP’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that it is not possible to have a free election under a political government. The BNP has no confidence in the present EC and wants it to be restructured.
The Awami League’s general secretary Obaidul Quader said that there is only one month left for the election to be announced. There is no scope to make any amendment to the Constitution within this span of time.
Bikalpa Dhara’s president AQM Baduddoza and Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) president Mujahidul Islam Selim feel that the Constitution can be changed anytime if there is a political consensus.
