Local govt polls are not a rehearsal for parliamentary elections

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The Rangpur City Corporation elections are to be held in December. The elections to the Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet and Gazipur city corporations are to be held sometime towards the middle of next year. A certain election commissioner has said that these elections can be a rehearsal to the parliamentary polls. But that is not so, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the local government elections do not bring about any change in government. Then there is the matter of security for the polling centres and the voters. The number of voters in these city corporations is limited and the size of the areas is also relatively small. It is thus easy to deploy significant number of personnel from the law enforcement agencies. The security can be quite tight and the officials and staff running the election can be confident. There will be wide media coverage and so the voting should be unbiased. It is not difficult in these circumstances to ensure that the election code of conduct is not violated.

The parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held not too long after these polls. The government is not supposed to wield its influence on these local government elections. If the image of the election system and the election commission can be kept above reproach, this will help in enhancing the credibility of the national elections.

On the flip side, the parliamentary election leads to the formation of the government. In our country, ‘the winner takes all’. It is only the workers and supporters of the victorious party who will be the beneficiaries of government-related jobs, contracts and other work. Even those not in the party will benefit, if they have served or will serve the interests of the leaders and activists. Serious criminal cases will even be withdrawn. The court will dismiss charges against many.

As for the losers, their political activities will meet with all sorts of obstructions. Cases will be filed against their supporters and activists. It will be difficult for them to run their businesses. They are deprived of jobs, contracts and even seats in the student halls. Even those winning the local government elections cannot work in peace.

Given such circumstances, it is only natural that the political parties are so desperate to come to power. It will certainly not be possible to ensure impenetrable security for 100 million voters in 60 thousand polling centres. Under the existing constitutional provisions, the government will remain in power. The parliament will remain intact. And in the prevailing culture, it is almost impossible for the local administration and police to stand up against the misdemeanours of the ruling party. In certain cases, they may aid and abet in the underhand activities. Their interests are interlinked. Even if the armed forces are deployed to assist the civil administration or as part of the law enforcement, they cannot be posted in each and every centre. If the striking force or mobile team are not given spontaneous cooperation from the other institutions, it will be difficult even for them to play an effective role.

In these cases, a certain remedy is often talked about. It is said that if the election commission personnel control these activities, then it will be possible to ensure transparency. Experimentations to this end are being carried out. They are the returning officers in the city corporation polls. They are posted to these positions in many seats during the parliamentary polls.

The city corporation elections are more or less conducted well, though these can be controlled too, if so desired. This happens in the cig cities. The Dhaka North, Dhaka South and Chittagong city corporation elections were all held on the same day. It was important for the government to keep control of these elections. And they successfully did so. The voter pattern was openly visible. And it was the commissioners of the commission who were in charge.

The parliamentary election is so wide and extensive, that it is impossible, and unnecessary, for the commission to deploy its personnel at all levels. As it is, it has become a few times bigger than India’s election commission and a move is on to expand it further. Certain government employees are being deemed partisan and thus unreliable, but still cannot be dropped. They are the ones who conducted the credible elections that took place in the country. And some of the elections, which were not credible, took place under officials of the election commission. The bottom line is, if the commission is not credible, then its officials cannot be any more credible than the others. And if the election commission is credible and it has control over the election system, the government officers too can be tools for a successful election.

The Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet and Gazipur city corporation elections were held during the tenure of the past election commission and before the parliamentary polls. All the candidates backed by the government party were defeated. But this is not the only yardstick of an election’s credibility. It was during their tenure that government-backed candidates won in the elections successfully conducted in Rangpur and Narayanganj. The credibility of those elections were not questioned either.

However, the credibility of the two Dhaka city corporation elections and the Chittagong city corporation election hit rock bottom. As there were some opposition candidates, a number of voters did turn up. But those who were to cast their votes (!), did so. The new commission conducted the Comilla city corporation polls. Everyone accepted this. So can it be said, therefore, that the national elections will be credible?

After the last election commission conducted five city corporation elections, it’s no secret what happened with the 2014 national elections. Of course, with the main opposition staying away, the election was more or less one-sided. The commission didn’t really bother. The election may have been a legal obligation, but there was no competition. Even where there was a semblance of contest, there were no voters. Yet the votes were said to have been cast in multitudes. The blame falls upon the government, the commission, those participating in the election and the boycotting parties. It is this country’s democracy that is paying the price.

The election commission comprises persons of varied experience. The chief election commissioner (CEC) has both success and failure in conducting elections at the field level. So they should not be unaware of what is required for a successful election.

It is the responsibility of the political parties to decide upon the mode of the election-time government. There is nothing for the election commission to do about this. However, under the prevailing constitutional system, the power of the election commission has to be increased to an extent during the elections. For example, once the election schedule is announced, all officials and employees of the civil administration and the law enforcement agencies, from divisional commissioner down, will be placed under the election commission. It is necessary to extend the scope of this authority to the public administration ministry, the home ministry and the local government department. However, the parliament has the power to amend the Representation of the People Order. The election commission can voice its opinion in this regard.

The election schedule should be declared three months prior to the election. Then the police and civil administration officers known to be partisan, must be transferred to posts unrelated to the election or to a remote field-level posting. It will not be inappropriate for the election commission to request the government to dissolve the parliament before the schedule is announced. This will bring a degree of equality in the field. If the commission is active and successful in this regard, an environment of confidence will emerge.

The opposition must also realise that no one is going to roll out the red carpet to usher them into power. They must proceed down a thorny path. And the government, to prove their own credibility, should remove the thorns along the way to a successful election.

Successful city corporation elections are a must. But there is no reason to believe that if these elections are successful, the national parliamentary election will be a success too. The last election commission had successfully passed such tests, but failed in the final exam. And times have changed. In the last election, the opposition’s boycott allowed free-sailing for the government, and had also removed all responsibilities from the election commission’s shoulders. This time it will probably not be so.

* Ali Imam Majumder is a former cabinet secretary. He can be reached at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>. This piece, originally published in Prothom Alo Bangla print edition, has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir.