Delayed election better than dirty election

Unfortunately, the EC rejected the appeal for revision outright and, despite a High Court ruling, went on with preparations for holding the election. Meantime, the former CEC M. A. Aziz was forced to go on leave, and the self-proclaimed CEC, Mr Mahfuzur Rahman, also rejected the demand for a revision. It was not until NDI made the same allegation that EC decided to go for a revision or updating of the voter list.

The EC launched a half-hearted attempt to show the donors that the voter list had been revised. The field assistants were rarely found to be working. Thousands of eligible voters from opposition parties, especially Awami League, who were excluded from the list were not registered, and in many places a large number of voters was left out. That means, till today the voter list remains as it was before, but still the election schedule had been declared.

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Against this background, one could question the very sincerity of the EC for holding a free and fair election with the participation of all the political parties. It appears that the EC intends to, somehow, exclude the major political parties in the upcoming election and stage a re-run of the 1996 episode. Otherwise, how could the scheduled be declared without publication of the voter list?

Again, as proposed by the caretaker government (CTG), the EC has not yet been reconstituted. The "engineers" are still there with their tools to manipulate the election results. The politically appointed election officers are still there despite the demand to withdraw them from election related functions.

That the chief of the CTG has never been neutral, since his assumption of power is not an allegation from the opposition now. Even the Ambassador of the US questioned the neutrality of the president. In his three midnight speeches President Iajuddin Ahmed slashed the opposition in a language quite akin to that of the BNP-Jamat alliance leaders. Mr Shafiqul Huq Chowdhury -- one of the "domesticated" advisors who were picked with the precondition that they would not call a spade a spade -- also said that 50 days of the CTG have been lost due to dilly-dallying and the hesitation of the CTG. In other words, out of the 90 days, almost half have been wasted by the CTG itself.

Right now it appears that, barring the BNP-Jamat alliance, all political parties stand against holding of the election as per the schedule declared by the EC. In fact, Sheikh Hasina, the leader of the grand alliance, asked the EC to reschedule it's timing after duly updating the voter list. Her clarion call was backed up by the opinion polls, which show that the general public expects a farcical election with the current voter list.

Now comes the question of the constitutional mandate for holding an election within 90 days. Notwithstanding the issue of the president himself violating the constitution, we can argue that if the election cannot be held within 90 days then the CTG and the EC should be held responsible. The EC should have started the updating task, and the CTG should have reconstituted the EC much earlier. The inefficient and inept CTG and the impotent EC seem to have driven us to this so-called constitutional crisis. In fact, the dilly-dallying and the lukewarm attitude toward the looming crisis could be deliberate, to hasten the process and complete the election.

Food intake is necessary for human survival. But that does not mean that any food is good for the human body. Examination is needed for getting a certificate. But that does not mean that examination with leaked out questions, or manipulated questions are good for the system. Likewise, election is needed for democracy, but "any election somehow" could be bad for democracy. The 1996 February election is a glaring example of this. We want a general election every five years, but that does not imply that the game should be played whether the field is level or not, whether it is engineered or not.

Therefore, a delayed election is better than a dirty election. The voter list must be updated to the satisfaction of the voters, and the EC should be reconstituted within the shortest possible time. The EC needs overhauling not because the members of the EC have alleged allegiance to a particular party, but they should be removed because of their inefficiency, arrogance and sheer negligence of duties. For the sake of saving the nation from upcoming turmoil the CTG should see that a dirty election is not held. Let us delay the election and produce a transparent, credible and participatory election that the president and the people of this country could boast of. Anything short of that could result in great economic and human loss the responsibility of which would lie on CTG.

Abdul Bayes is a Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University.