Staff Reporter :
Former chief election commissioners, election commissioners and EC secretaries think that non-partisan government is essential to make the next general election acceptable by the participation of all political parties.
They passed the opinion during a view exchange meeting with the Election Commission (EC) at its headquarters in the city’s Agargaon on Sunday.
ATM Shamsul Huda, who was Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) from 2007 to 2012, said, “The election would not be credible if all parties don’t take part. So, how you will bring them (to the election) would depend on what you can offer them. BNP was problematic during the election of my tenure in 2008. We had to spend a lot of time for convincing them. The way they are talking now indicates that they don’t want to join the next election.”
CEC of the immediate past KM Nurul Huda who served EC from 2017 to 2022 said army deployment in elections yields no result at all.
Citing that some 75 per cent of the allocation in the election needs to be spent for law enforcers, Nurul Huda said, “When we were in schools, we saw that a chowkider controls a polling centre with a whistle in mouth and a bamboo stick in hands. Now-a-days, Army, BGB, RAB and police are deployed. The number of armed personnel at a polling centre equals to the number of policemen at a police station,” he said.
The CEC also observed that security at the polling centres is not essential in spite of using EVMs (electronic voting machines) in the voting. “EVM is such a box which cannot be snatched away. Vote of one individual can’t be cast by another individual. EVMs cannot be started before the voting. It has lots of advantages.”
Commissioner of the immediate past EC, Mahbub Talukder, said the only challenge ahead of the next general election is to ensure participation by all political parties and the election would not be acceptable locally or globally if it’s not participatory.
On the other hand, the next national election will have to be of international-standard. A neutral government is needed to hold an international-standard election. Only an acceptable government can ensure holding an acceptable election,” he added.
Another former commissioner Mohammad Abu Hafiz said, “Participation by all parties has to be ensured. Then everyone would consider the election a good one. But the EC cannot involve them in the process.”
He said the ruling party would consider how to bring all parties to the polls.
Incumbent CEC Kazi Habibul Awal said a dialogue will soon take place with the political parties to overcome the election challenges.
“If there is no agreement among the parties, it will be difficult for the commission to hold elections,” he said.
He added that they would seek suggestions and see what can be changed for the betterment of future generations for a fair election.
H. Awal said that the former election commissioners told him that there was not that much scope for changes in the existing system. “If we stay firm and abide by the laws then a lot of improvement is possible.”
The CEC said former Chief Election Commissioner Abdur Rauf spoke about party-based elections instead of candidates. In this system, parties would submit their candidates for 300 seats ahead of the election. The party members would get seats based on the number of votes.
“However, it is not our concern. The parties should deal with it,” he added.
Regarding conducting elections on multiple days instead of a single day, he said that the commission did not have such preparation and it might be a hassle for them.
Asked where the problem lies in advising the parties, he said: “I have not yet had a dialogue with the parties. Everyone says elections must be participatory.”
The election would not be real in a sense if it is not inclusive, the CEC added,
Regarding Comilla-6 MP AKM Bahauddin not leaving his constituency, Awal said: “We have our limitations. We did ask him to leave but he declined.”
“We have sent a letter requesting him. If he doesn’t honour it, we can do nothing,” the CEC added.
Former EC secretary Mohammad Abdullah, however, thinks that the EC should ensure the participation of all political parties at any cost.
80 per cent work would be done if the EC can do it, he added.
A total of 28 persons including former CECs, commissioners and EC secretaries were invited to the meeting but only 10 of the invitees turned up.
