Editorial
Candidate-voter interface
A good beginning made at Sylhet
THE dialogue between the mayoral candidates of Sylhet City Corporation and around 200 local people is the first of its kind, that brought the voters and the candidates face-to-face before an election and the latter had to answer some queries on important civic issues. We believe this is a good beginning -- the election seekers coming under public scrutiny from day one. A process has been initiated to bring the candidates to full public glare -- an essentially wholesome exercise. The Election Commission taking initiative, BBC Bangla Service organised the dialogue. They have done a commendable job.
The candidates said in an emphatic manner that they would work for making the city administration corruption-free. While it was only natural for them to take such a stand, it is highly desirable that people seeking election commit themselves to taking a very clear position against all corrupt practices. The candidates' past records also came up for discussion and the local people asked them how they planned to solve the problems of the city. Helping the voters to make informed choices has been an important agenda with civil society groups working for fair and meaningful elections.
Such dialogues always place due emphasis on the role of voters beyond merely casting vote, in any election -- something that received little attention in the past. The candidates have to realise that it is their moral responsibility to go by the commitments they make to the electorate. They should learn from such close interaction with voters and work out where things went wrong in the past. Obviously, the very fact that Sylhet city is beset with a number of problems is an indication of the city administrations doing little for its over all improvement.
The candidates must not treat the voters, as most of them did in the past, as having nothing to do, once the election is over. One noticeable and welcome development, which the candidates can ill afford to ignore, is that people in general are showing an increasingly greater degree of sensitivity to issues pertaining to governance. At the Sylhet dialogue, professionals from different fields and students participated and shed light on different pertinent matters. Their spontaneous participation does show that they want a truly competent and honest candidate to be elected as mayor.
If the recent developments in the political arena are anything to go by, it is neither desirable nor easy to sustain a corrupt system. So, we expect the candidates to work, once one of them is elected, in the greater interest of the residents of Sylhet city, banishing corruption once and for all from the city administration.
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