When the cat is out of the bag

By rejecting the historical norms of preparing an updated version of the voters' list for ensuing general election, Justice Aziz unilaterally opted for preparing a new list of voters. The erstwhile two members of the EC fought tooth and nail against the attempt but in vain. The reason for the departure from the past experiences has not also been clearly pointed out by the EC. Even a lay-man in the country knows that a voter is always a voter until death took him/her away or mental disability pushed him/her out of track. The economics of vying for a new voters' list should not be overlooked either. It cost, as reported by various sources, few hundred crore of Taka to prepare the list. Only a half of it, if saved sincerely by updating the old one, could have eased the lives of millions managing to live hand to mouth. Allegedly, the precious pennies have gone to the persons loyal to the ruling party. Allegations of massive corruption and feeding ruling-party supporters through the process of preparing a new voter list are also on the air.

Second, although the decision of the EC should carry a consensus by incorporating the views of the EC members, sordidly this time such convention was “overruled” by the CEC who also happens to be an hon'ble Justice of the High Court. However, the matter now lies with the Supreme Court for a judgment and hence we postpone our point for the moment. Suffice it to say, however, that, meantime, the draft voter list was published for public scrutiny where it had been shown that the total number of voters in the country stands at 90 million plus! A peep deep into the demographic dynamics over the last four years or so tends to reveal that the additional number of voters surpass the number of population -- by a wide margin -- who earned the eligibility to be voters by attaining the age of 18 over the bench mark period. The matrix of manipulation inside EC also shows that, if the estimates of the EC are taken into consideration, the growth rate of population would run far above the officially documented population growth rate of 1.5 per cent or so per annum during the last decade.

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A private TV channel -- Channel-i -- at long last caught the cat out of the bag! In a particular area of the Dhaka city, nine hundred fake voters are reported to have been enlisted by the instruction of the EC. As The Daily Star reports, under-age madrasa students turned voters by the grace of the EC. But one of the persons so instructed to carry out the order broke the earthen pot at the heart of the market! Newspaper reports ran galore over the exclusion of genuine voters and inclusion of fake voters around the capital city. Even the Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Moudud Ahmed complained about four hundred fake voters in his own constituency. It is being argued that all that happened in the name of fake voters is just a tip of the ice berg and many more could have remained hidden by the mercy of the EC!

But despite the oddities opened by the media and growing complaints from the people who have been excluded from voters' list this time, the EC is finalising the disputed new voter list, seemingly unperturbed by the escalating number of revelations of gross irregularities in the preparation of it (The Daily Star, May 21, 2006). We observed that the calm, quiet and cool headed CEC broke his silence on 21 May 2006, after three months of avoiding media, by organising a very short press conference where he declined to delve into the deviations as revealed by the media.

What is the main objective of the EC in general and the CEC in particular? Besides the CEC himself, the EC is dominated by persons alleged to be loyal to the present ruling alliance. The erstwhile EC Secretary was made a member of the EC as a contribution on his commitment to the party in power. Again, as reported, a controversial retired judge managed a berth in EC as another member by dint of his devotion to the party in power. Can the nation expect neutral electoral judgment from such persons?

The prerequisite for a free and fair election calls for an immediate resignation of the three persons so named as experts of election engineering. It seems that by virtue of their posts being constitutional and hence not removable by the government, they are pushing the country towards a constitutional crisis by their stay. After all, the opposition is not going to participate in a farcical election like that of February 1996 and perhaps also the government is not going to swallow the sour pill it did before. Therefore, for the sake of democracy, constitutional continuity and political stability in the country, the three hon'ble persons could do well by retiring from the positions they hold now. That would possibly give them more honor and dignity. Otherwise, as the cat is coming out of the bag, EC stalwarts might have to face the people's court on the heel of their alleged attempts to subdue the democratic journey that the nation is in for many years bearing the brunt of oddities.

The government, on the other hand, should advise the EC stalwarts to step down voluntarily. We think that the present EC has lost all its credibility to hold a free and fair election. Although EC is said to be autonomous, constitutional and free of government's interference, the fact remains that the team was selected by the present government and hence it will have to bear the burden of bad management in the EC. We can only hope that something might have been lost meantime but all is not lost for the future. The EC and its new voter list have amply proved that a free and fair election in the country needs a new team imbibed with the spirit of sailing us through the rough sea of democracy. When democracy works well, it works better for all parties landing them in a win-win situation.

Abdul Bayes is a Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University