Shakhawat Hossain
The ‘government controlled’ municipal election sparked widespread allegation of irregularities and partialities by the ruling party. Discussants at a BBC Bangla Probaho Television Programme have said these while participating in a discussion on the municipal polls.
They opined that when the election system loses its credibility to the people, the responsibility goes to the government and to the Election Commission. They said that the government’s interference in the election would further widen distrust between the ruling and the opposition parties.
The country’s maiden partisan local body polls in 233 municipalities ended on December 30, 2015 amid reports of widespread violence, clashes, irregularities, boycott of about 34 candidates, death of one person and injuries to at least 78 people.
Meanwhile, many of the election monitoring groups have expressed their fear that the just concluded questionable municipal polls would further widen the confidence crisis between the ruling and the opposition parties in Bangladesh.
Although the massive irregularities and the violent situation during the election have made it questionable, Md Abdul Alim, lead observer of ‘Election Working Group’, a non-government election monitoring organization, has, however, termed the municipal polls as the best of all four other elections held under this ruling government.
On the other hand, Nasim Akhter Hussain, a teacher and political researcher of Jahangirnagar University, said the voters have been deceived due to the irregularities. “This type of election does not mean democracy. A group is trying to establish the election as presence of democratic practice in the country. It is a wrong concept,” he said while participating in a discussion organized by BBC Bangla.
“Many saw that voters are standing in queue to exercise their rights of franchise. But the scenarios were completely different inside the polling booths. Ballots papers were put into the boxes before starting of the elections begin along with other irregularities. Is it not cheating with the people?” He questioned.
Abdul Alim said huge gathering of voters prove increased interest of people on voting although Nasim Akhter said the mass irregularities created dismay among people and widened distrust on the organizers. The discussants, however, said the election commission with the help of the government has to take initiatives to earn the confidence of the people on election. Otherwise, bad days are ahead, they cautioned.
Source: Weekly Holiday
