How the election can be firmly controlled

After the Awal commission was formed, I was invited to attend a dialogue organised on 19 October to exchange views. I attended this meeting, but was unable to attend the meeting held earlier as I had been away from the country at the time. In the meantime, the election commission has held a few elections, some good and some bad.

The commission really couldn't break away from the local government election pattern that has continued over the past 10 years. The Cumilla City Corporation was relatively good, but also faced controversy for certain reasons. However, irregularities sprung up during Gaibandha-5 by-election and the election commission suspended these polls on its own initiative. A reelection is due.

The meeting which I had attended to exchange views, was also joined by a couple of commissioners of the past two commissions and a number of senior officials. The chief election commissioners of the past two commissions, AKM Nurul Huda and Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed respectively, and the chief election commissioner of 1991, former chief justice Abdur Rauf, were present at the meeting.

I felt that while the commission created history by suspending the Gaibandha-5 by-election, I was rather perturbed by the debate that emerged in the political arena. Perhaps that was the main objective of this dialogue. In my previous writing, I had heartily lauded the role of the election commission in the Gaibandha by-election.

When I attended the dialogue, I recalled the days when I had been in the election commission. At times I would feel at a loss as there had been no one to assist us. In that sense, the Awal commission is lucky. Now they have the former commissioners who can share their experiences. Even so, the decisions are to be made solely by the election commission. At first sight, the commission seemed sincere enough to me. I hope they will remain even more sincere in their duty. The election commission cannot please everyone. No one should even expect that from them.

I want to reiterate here some of the points I had raised during the dialogue. Broadly speaking, I felt certain issues could be taken into consideration. The first was to avoid the EVM debate and instead focus on how to gain more control on the election.

After Bangladesh became an independent country, the first election was held in 1973. Though there was no legal obligation for the deputy commissioners to be made returning officers during the election, this became a ritual since then. It is said that each deputy commissioner is put in charge of an average four to five seats.

Reality is different. Very few districts have only four or less than four parliamentary seats. Also, in the first national parliamentary election, there were 35 million voters. Now there are around 110 million. And from 17 districts, there are now 64. Presently, there are from 11 to 20 seats in around 19 districts. In Dhaka there are 20 seats, in Chattogram 16, in Mymensingh 11 and in Cumilla 11 too.

Given today's context, it is not possible to control a national election with just one RO (returning officer). It is even difficult for the election commission to control them. After all, from the very senior civil servants to the deputy commissioners, no one is exempt from the influence of the party that runs the government. This was obvious from the arrogant behaviour of the deputy commissioners and superintendents of police during the 8 October meeting they had with the election commission to exchange views.

In order to establish more control, my recommendation is about the election commission's own workforce. The election commission can divide up their tasks among their experienced officials. It may be recalled that the Shamsul Huda commission appointed their own officials as returning officers during the small and larger local government elections. It has taken up a plan to establish a modern residential training centre to prepare them for the national parliamentary election. The Election Training Institute of today is the implementation of that plan.

In the face of innumerable challenges, the election commission back then managed to prove their competence in a most complicated election. The present election commission can reflect deeply on that. Under the prevailing circumstances, many deputy commissioners may feel uneasy to conduct an election.

Other than just using CCTV to control the election, I want to make a few other recommendations here. One of the reasons for the unrest that prevails during the elections in Bangladesh is the excessive expenditure involved in the campaigns. The commission never gets an accurate account of this. The details submitted by the candidates are mostly inaccurate and unrealistic. But it is not possible for the election commission to scrutinise this. Yet the regulation regarding election expenses mentioned in Chapter 3A of Representation of the People Order (RPO), states that the details of the election expenditure must be provided to the commission. All candidates, the winner and the defeated, must submit these accounts, failing which will be considerable a punishable offence.

Once the election schedule is announced and the nominations are made, the election commission will never be able to avail accurate information unless it monitors the expenditure of every legitimate candidate. That is why I recommend that the election commission appoints expenditure observers from the very outset. Their function will be to collect an expenditure report at least every week from every candidate. If necessary, these will be examined for accuracy. At the end of the election, these reports will be submitted to the commission so it will be easier for the commission to tally the overall expenditure details submitted by candidates with these papers.

In 2011, the Shamsul Huda commission formed an expenditure observer team for the Narayanganj city corporation elections and managed to establish its control firmly. It is from that experience that I make this recommendation. I hope the commission takes this into cognizance.

It is not possible for the election commission to please everyone and they do not try to do so. But they must make an effort to ensure an environment conducive for participation by all and also to have firm control over the election. It must take initiative to bring all registered parties to the polls. Rather than useless debate, it is important to pay attention to the views of all. Above all, the grave responsibility of protecting the franchise of the voters lies with the election commission. I hope the present election commission takes a lesson from the past.

*Dr M Sakhawat Hossain is an election analyst, former military officer and SIPG senior research fellow (NSU). He can be contacted at [email protected]

*This column appeared in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir