Staff Reporter :
Election commissioner Mahbub Talukdar has termed shifting the NID wing from the election commission (EC) to the security services division under the Home Ministry as put the final nail in the coffin.
He also considered the shifting as severing limbs of the EC. While talking to newsmen at his office in Nirbachan Bhaban in Dhaka on Wednesday, Mahbub Talukdar said he could not understand the motive behind such a ‘suicidal’ and ‘irrational’ move by the government.
The election commissioner expressed his solidarity with the members of Bangladesh Election Commission Officers Association and the council of employees under EC secretariat and regional offices, who have been denouncing the government’s step.
Citing that a letter signed by a joint secretary of the cabinet division instructs the NID wing to transfer its existing infrastructure and manpower to the security services division.
He questioned about the rationality of the instructions to a constitutional body. Preparing the voter list and the national identity cards are closely related. The shifting of NID wing to the home ministry would make the publication of a flawless voter list as well as electronic voting through the NID database very complex, he said.
“Besides, the change will undermine the electoral system and the expected democracy,” he said adding that the EC will not perform as per the Article 119 of the Constitution if the NID wing goes to other agencies. As the EC remained unnoticed earlier, Mahbub Talukdar termed the procedures of shifting as a sheer negligence to the EC.
“The EC never witnessed such a tragedy earlier.”
Mahbub Talukdar continued, “The article 118 (4) of the Constitution says that the EC shall be independent in the exercise of its functions and subject only to this Constitution and any other law. Although the article is a safeguard to the EC, but where is the independence now? I fear that shifting the charge of NID wing to others is going to be a funeral of the electoral system.”
