When people are lamentably dying in large numbers for nonavailability of vaccine and suffering economic woes without meaningful help, the government is seen very busy to seize the authority of the Election Commission regarding its National Identity Card (NID) services. It seems NID activities are more important than devising an effective plan to tackling the loss of lives issue and arranging vaccine from wherever possible. The lack of vaccine should be a shame for thorough incompetence.
Chief Election Commissioner Nurul Huda defying government’s decision has stressed the need for further discussion on the issue. “It’s not like we are moving tables and chairs,” he said on Wednesday. Interestingly, this is the first time we heard a voice from the CEC, who usually wants to stay too loyal to government. But countering the CEC’s desire, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that all NID services were being brought under the Security Service Division of Home Ministry as per experts’ advice. The Election Commission had been issuing NID cards from the very beginning that started at least 12 years ago. Interestingly, the Commission from the beginning cannot deny a lot of corruption allegations regarding NID cards. Apart from issuing dual or fake NIDs, the NID server was greatly misused by the corrupt officials of same organisation to make extra money. It was an NID business for them. People who were not Bangladeshi nationals also have got NIDs in that process.
Even so, we’re damn sure that NID-related services have not been snatched away from Election Commission only for corruption. Corruption means nothing serious in the present government system. There may be other reasons. So we’re not surprised that directives have come from Prime Minister’s Office. It’s almost final.
Now CEC is begging the government for giving back EC’s authority. It seems to us nothing but a big mockery. This Nurul Huda Commission was so subservient that the CEC and other Commissioners never raised any question about government’s activities to deliberately destroy the electoral process.
The most controversial election was held on 30 December 2018 where ballot boxes in most centres were allegedly filled with ballot papers at mid-night with the help of police and local administration. The international media also reported that ‘elections were marred by violence and allegations of vote rigging’. The CEC at that time said that elections were held in a “peaceful environment”. Everyone was in a festive mood. 80 per cent voter voted in the 11th national parliamentary elections, he added.
Not only that – from union council to mayoral polls – all the elections were arranged by the CEC trustworthily as a slave only to declare ruling party candidates winners. He did not hesitate to play the role of a ‘villain’ to ultimately destroy the democratic system by arranging fake elections. In return, the EC got multi-billion taka projects for constructing offices, buying EVMs, supervising NID cards, and others where there was no need to show accountability in spending money.
Though the Election Commission is a Constitutional body and its all Commissioners, including the Chief Commissioner, are appointed in accordance with the Constitution, the CEC had made the organisation a mere government department. Only one Commissioner — that is Mahabub Talukdar — was a little exception. The rest chorused the same song tuned by the government.
We should say the home ministry could easily handle the whole election procedures too. There is no need of a subservient Election Commission only to show how farcical the elections are and how the government’s decision is final.
The people have no faith in elections when police decide the national election on the blueprint of the government.
Let the home ministry arrange the election when the people’s vote does not count and declare their chosen persons as deemed elected. More money will be available for corruption and there will be no election time violence.
