CCTV cameras in all booths, not EVM

While serving in the election commission (EC) for five years, we did not simply carry out the routine duties of conducting an election. We took initiative to make certain changes, to do something new in election management. Salient among these was drawing of a voters' list along with photographs and also including eligible voters on the list when they came to the voting  centre and providing them with ID cards. This card is now known as the National ID card (NID). We accumulated huge experience while creating a digital information bank, setting up server stations down till the upazila level for this purpose, and carrying our extensive reforms in Bangladesh's electoral system. Not only that, but we also had the rare opportunity of interacting very closely with political personalities, the common people as well as civil servants. I did not have this experience earlier. Even after leaving the election commission, I have devoted myself for the last six years to acquiring more knowledge and understanding of the technical and complex matter of elections.

Everyone is well aware of how the justice Aziz commission had to beat an exit in face of the people's mistrust. As commissioner of the Dr Shamsul Huda Commission, and also on a personal level, I worked hard to retrieve public trust in the commission. After managing to bring the election commission to a certain level, I and others like me were pained at the failure of the new two consecutive election commissions. I have written many analyses on the areas of failure of these two commissions. I have even analysed the activities of the present Habibul Awal commission and have provided certain recommendations. In continuity, and in response to certain recent developments, I would like to present my views.

An officer of the election commission was appointed a returning officer in the Gaibandha-5 by election and he was in charge of conducting the polls. CCTV cameras were placed in each of the 145 centres so that the election could be monitored.

On the day of the by-election, voting in some of the centres was held up at around 12 noon due to widespread irregularities. The election commissioners in Dhaka were monitoring the election over from the monitoring room set up in the election commission's head office. Later the irregularities increase to such an extent that the election commission suspended the election before it could conclude. The matter is being discussed and debated. It was learned that the CCTV camera connections in many centres were severed.

Also, as the router used for the CCTV cameras in the char areas were malfunctioning, it wasn't possible to get footage from there as in the case of other centres too. It was after observing the situation in around 58 centres that the election commission resorted to Section 91 (7) of the RPO and Article 119 of the constitution and decided to suspend the election, with directives to carry out an inquiry into the matter within seven days.

The ruling party questioned the EC's suspension of the by- polls based on CCTV monitoring. On the other hand, the major opposition party BNP and its allies said that was just a staged game. Meanwhile, 91 presiding officers, in almost identical letters sent to the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO), claimed that the election had been free and fair. Later many of them told the media that they had been forced to make these statements.

This is extremely contemptible and unlawful. It must be noted that no upazila nirbahi officer was given duty in this by-election. So it is not understood why the letter was sent to the UNO. And it remains unknown why no copies were sent to the returning officer or the assistant returning officer and under whose directives these reports were sent. Issuing statements in the media before the inquiry has been carried out, is a punishable offence. Hopefully answers will be found to these questions.

From all the details discussed above and the CCTV camera footage, it can be said without doubt that there had been corruption in the election. The election commission or experts in the field will not differ in this opinion. International researchers have carried out all sorts of studies on the types of election rigging, identifying the rigging and the cause behind the rigging.

In any election, no matter the size, if the candidates decide to resort to rigging, they target the polling centres and booths. That happened at this by-election too. It was obvious that the two main contenders were desperate to win. This desperation to win by any means drives them to adopt unfair means. Under such circumstances, it is not common to see all centres being taken over in an attempt to cast votes forcefully. The inevitable happened. A number of pre-selected polling centres were taken over and the results were shown to be much higher than the nearest contender or a landslide victory.

In the meantime, the election commission has ordered a full inquiry into the matter and so it would not be prudent to comment in too much detail about the possible irregularities in the election.

The inquiry must be unhindered and action in accordance to the law must be taken against those responsible for tarnishing the election, even if cases need to be filed in certain instances. The election commission must have gained the experience from this election that if the administration does not act neutrally, then the commission must singularly do all that it can.

In conclusion, EVM or any devices will make no difference if the booths are forcefully taken over. So rather than wasting time and money over EVMs, the installation of technology like CCTV cameras must be given priority.

I thank the election commission for taking the firm steps. Hopefully, they will not move away from such strict measures in future. This is the first such instance in the history of Bangladesh's elections.

We have not seen such a precedence in the past. If such a firm stance had been adopted in the 1994 Magura by-election, then perhaps Bangladesh's democratic and political history would have been quite different.