The growing controversy centring on the Election Commission’s performance and move against some crucial reforms has added fuel to the opposition BNP’s anti-EC campaign and shaken the Awami League-led ruling alliance’s confidence in it.
The issues have become a source of worry in the ruling camp as its policymakers now think the main opposition party will get political mileage in this situation.
The more crucial question is whether the current EC would be able to hold the next parliamentary polls free and fair.
The BNP policymakers have long been insisting they have no confidence in the EC, which in their view works in accordance with the present government’s wishes.
“We will now intensify our demand for formation of the Election Commission afresh,” Moudud Ahmed, member of BNP standing committee, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Some ruling alliance leaders, too, said they were not happy with the way the EC is performing.
“The commission could not perform their duties the way it was supposed to do. They could not properly demonstrate their neutrality and efficiency in their work,” said Nooh-Ul-Alam Lenin, presidium member of AL.
Citing the use of religion cards against the AL-backed mayoral candidates in recent elections to five city corporations, he said the EC could not take strong step as per the electoral law to stop it.
Rashed Khan Menon, chief of Workers Party, member of AL-led alliance, said the EC has lack of efficiency and guts. “They should work independently.”
Anisul Islam Mahmud, presidium member of Jatiya Party, another component of the ruling alliance, said people would lose confidence in the EC for its “controversial” move not to retain the authority to cancel one’s candidacy in the parliamentary polls for electoral law violation.
Amid disapproval of BNP-led opposition, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad and his team took office in early February last year.
The government, however, has all along been taking credit for formation of the EC led by Rakibuddin through a search committee.
It was expected that the EC under leadership of Rakibuddin would take forward the good practices introduced by his predecessor ATM Shamsul Huda.
But its decision not to retain the sweeping authority to cancel one’s candidacy in the polls confounded all as to whether the EC was working to make itself weaker.
The current EC also rejected some crucial electoral reform proposals, including restoration of the armed forces’ authorities to arrest anybody without warrant for maintaining peaceful atmosphere in the parliamentary polls. The proposals were drafted by Huda-led commission.
The present situation frustrated the ex-CEC. In his view, the current EC is not on the right track.
“They must hold talks with main stakeholders to determine its course of actions regarding the electoral law reforms,” Huda told The Daily Star yesterday.
A former caretaker government adviser, M Hafizuddin Khan, echoed the same view. He said the EC is taking a path opposite to what was expected. “The way the commission is working is making it weaker.”
He said the EC could not perform efficiently in holding the recent city polls.
Source: The Daily Star
