Bravo, Huda commission!

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda expressed his concern and consternation over the increase in violence during the union parishad (UP) elections. Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, he said that the matter would be discussed with the election commissioners and directives would be issued at a grassroots level. But his words have had no effect whatsoever, as is evident in the killing of six persons in election violence over the past week in Narsingdi.

Elections to 365 union parishads were held in two phases on 20 June and 20 September, in the first phase. In the second phase, elections to 846 union parishads will be held on 11 November. Then on 28 November, in the second phase, elections will be held in 1,700 union parishads.

Alongside the violence, there is also the growing propensity this time for being elected as a people's representative without any votes. So far in the first and second phase of the elections to 1211 union parishads, 154 chairmen have been elected without any voting.

Tuesday was the last day to submit nominations. In this phase too there will be many union parishads where the candidates will win uncontested as they are the sole candidates in their respective union parishads.

The driving force of any election is the people, the voters. But in present Bangladesh, those voters are insignificant. The election commission, the administration, the law enforcement agencies, the contesting political parties and the candidates, no one bothers to follow the election rules and regulations.

Local government elections in Bangladesh had always been non-partisan. But the KM Nurul Huda commission suddenly got this idea to make all the local government elections, from the UP polls to those of the city corporations, to be held under party symbols.

In appeasing those in power, they have destroyed the entire election system. However, albeit late, the CEC had admitted that "An election is fair with the joint efforts of the political parties, the voters and the candidates. Unless there is tolerance at the field level, it is not possible to keep things in control."

Who will bring about this tolerance? The political parties and the candidates certainly have a role to play. But no one can be a candidate without the election commission's approval. So once the candidate is selected, it is the election commission's responsibility to ensure that he or she is following the election code of conduct. The election commission can take legal action if the rules are violated. They can cancel the candidature. They can even cancel the entire election.

Any game has certain rules. The game is played in the field. The election is held in the polling centre. But the Huda commission has brought the game out of the polling centre. The election commission is not bothered about what happens on the day of the voting, how many voters turn up, how many polling agents will be present or such.

During Ershad's time there was a popular slogan, "I will cast my own vote, I will vote for whoever I want." The violence and clashes among the ruling party leaders and activists over candidature this time, indicates that there is no need for voters. Whoever can defeat the other with guns, knives, choppers, cleavers and sticks outside the polling centre, is the one who will snatch victory.

CEC Nurul Huda hopes that the election will be "strongly contested, competitive, but not vindictive." But in actuality, the elections are being vindictive, not strongly contested or competitive. An election is competitive when all parties participate, when all candidates have equal opportunity to campaign.

The election commission failed to ensure participation of all parties. BNP and a number of other parties have officially boycotted the UP election. They say that neither the votes nor the voters are safe under this election commission. If voting rights are not safe, the election cannot be safe either.

Since the election is being held on a party basis, it was the election commission's duty to bring all parties to the polls. The ruling Awami League says it is contesting. How the election is held is the responsibility of the election commission.

The election commission has done nothing to carry out this responsibility other than show their faces on television now and then. An Awami League leader of Cox's Bazar and UP chairman has bluntly said, "If you don't vote for the 'boat' (AL symbol), your body won't even get a place in the cemetery." Another Awami League leader in Rajshahi has warned, "Only those who vote for the 'boat' will go to the polling centre, no one else will be allowed to enter."

If any candidate or voter other than the 'boat' supporters is not allowed to go to the polling centre, then the election game has been played outside the field. Does the CEC not consider these violations of the election laws?

If these are violations, what steps have been taken? And it is not just in those two places. Awami League leaders are making such threats all over. And the election tussle is among Awami Leaguers themselves.

They are not sparing each other and that is why the UP elections are rife with violence and clashes. No matter how the CEC tries to brush this off as 'sporadic criminal offences', he and his commission cannot shrug off their responsibility.

With violence increasing in the UP elections, KM Nurul Huda is uneasy. But he is not saying anything about how to overcome this situation. As a citizen of this country, I am embarrassed at the manner in which the commission, under this leadership, has eroded the voting rights of the people in its four and three quarter years in office.

I have often voiced my anger and pain. I am voicing my shame. I know this shame will not affect the officials in the election commission. Then again, if anyone of them speaks out, driven by his conscience, he is dubbed as a 'mental patient.'

Nowadays even ministers raise questions on the mental health of their political opponents. But they perhaps do not realise that simply closing one's eyes can't make the storm disappear. Some people can be fooled some of the time. All people can't be fooled all of the time.

Politicians may be proud of this election. The ruling party may be pleased at yet another chance to prove their sky-high popularity. They can feel complacent about the challenge that the opposition has posed by boycotting the election.

But where will the 100 million voters of this country go? They only have one aspiration, that the state will at least ensure their right to cast a vote at the end of a certain term. The election commission has deprived them of that right.

In the meantime, the ruling party and the opposition have heated up the political arena with discussion and debate on how the new election commission will be formed. How can the people be freed of this election commission, pressed down upon them like a heavy stone?

Many election commissions have come and gone in Bangladesh. Some have been successful and some have stepped down in failure, before the end of term. But there is no other precedence of such a commission that has been an out-and-out failure all through its entire term. Bravo KM Huda commission!

* Sohrab Hassan is joint editor of Prothom Alo and a poet. He can be contacted at [email protected]

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