According to the Election Commission, all the preparations have been completed for the 24 municipal elections which are scheduled to be held on 28 December. The election campaign of the candidates has been closed since midnight on Saturday. Voting will start Sunday morning. There are questions of health risks in the area as so many local government bodies are being elected at the same time. The bigger question is whether the people's right to vote will be ensured. Whether the KM Nurul Huda Commission will be able to make a fairly credible election by overcoming previous failures.
The news coming in various media including Prothom Alo is not at all reassuring. After the announcement of the schedule, the nominated candidates of the ruling party have campaigned freely and held rallies. But the candidates of BNP or other opposition parties have been deprived of that opportunity. The BNP candidates complained that their cadres and supporters were not allowed to hold campaigns. BNP activists at some paces alleged attacks from the ruling party while campaigning. Law enforcement agencies also allegedly created obstacles for the opposition party activists.
A prerequisite for a fair and free election is to ensure a level playing field or give equal opportunities to rival candidates. Elections will not be fair if one party cannot get out of the practice of holding opposite party's candidates captive and make own campaign free. In most of the cases, the election officials do not perform their duties impartially and take a stand in favour of the particular candidate. It is extremely unfortunate.
The data released by Prothom Alo after analysing the statements of the candidates for the municipal elections is also worrying. It shows the wealth of the candidates of the ruling Awami League has increased while the cases against the candidates of the BNP or the opposition party have increased. Some candidates have had to fight the election with half a dozen or more cases on them. The cases against Awami League candidates in the past have been withdrawn. Our political culture is that wealth increases when you are in power, and lawsuits increase when you are in the opposition.
The election has three phases - pre-vote, voting and post-vote. In order to make any election free, fair and credible, it is necessary to keep the field level in all three phases. The most important of these is that every contesting candidate must have an election agent in each booth to prevent vote rigging during the voting. In recent elections only election agents of ruling party candidates have been seen at polling stations while agents of any other candidate are not allowed to enter. In this situation the election turned into a farce. Despite the opposition's allegations, the election commission did not take any effective action. The officials in charge parrot the words 'action will be taken if any complaint is received'.
If the Election Commission fails to ensure the right of voters to vote in the 24 municipal elections, another farce will be staged in the name of elections, which will further undermine the democratic and electoral system.