The CEC must resign

As we can understand, it has now become mandatory for the Election Commission to scrap the new draft voter list and go for updating the existing list. But who is going to do that? People have lost confidence in the present Election Commission. They no longer believe that the present set up of the Election Commission can and or will deliver the goods. They have made a mockery of themselves by preparing a voter list plagued with nearly a crore and a half ghost voters at a cost of Taka 100 crore of this poor country's tax payers' money and still more than 50 lac genuine voters missing.

The best option left for the CEC and his two colleagues is to quit the job and pave the way for appointment of a new Commission to do the job. The sooner they do so, the better it is for themselves as well as for the country. There is not much time left for the next general election. It will be a Herculean task for any Election Commission to update a 5-year-old voter list of a country of 140 million people in just 3 to 4 months time even if they start right now.

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We hope the CEC and his two colleagues will be able to understand the gravity of the situation, feel the pulse of the people and take the right course of action (in this case definitely resignation) without further delay. Any dillydallying in this regard will rightly or wrongly give the signal that they are out there to jeopardise the next general election and help the vested quarters in undermining the democratic process of the country.

The country is already beset with innumerable and in some cases insurmountable problems created by an incompetent, corrupt and insensible Administration. The people are reeling to their knees with severe crisis of water and electricity. Uncontrollable price hike of rice, pulse, cooking oil and almost all other daily necessities -- a crisis reportedly created by a syndicate of the ruling class -- has severely hit the common people. They have their backs stuck in the wall. This is one aspect. The other aspect is the worsening law and order situation and alarming rise of religious militancy in the recent years allegedly with the support of the Jamaate Islami, a formidable partner in the ruling alliance.

Given the political, social and economic scenario as mentioned above, it is the general consensus that a free, fair and credible election is the only way to come out of this mess. It is also the general consensus that the CEC and his two colleagues resign immediately and the political parties get down to the task of finding suitable persons for the Election Commission acceptable to the people in the first instance and holding dialogue for reform of both the Caretaker Government and the Election Commission in the second.

People have started to be desperate and frenzy. Incidents of Kansat, Shanir Akhra, Dhanbari, Ashulia, Gazipur are right in front of our eyes. It would not be wise for the CEC, the parties in power, their sycophants and for those who aspire to go to power to let these ominous signs go out of their sight, lest they may have to run for cover the same way as Mr Salahuddin MP did the other day.