By The Numbers
Clean and competent candidates in elections
THE holding of elections to four city corporations and nine municipalities in a fair and peaceful manner has given the nation a certain sense of satisfaction. The turnout of voters, particularly of women and minority groups, has been quite remarkable. Familiar incidents like clashes between rival groups of supporters and snatching of ballot boxes, that usually characterise elections in Bangladesh, were also absent.
These are really some positive signs that convince one to believe that transition to democracy would finally be turning into a reality through holding of the parliamentary election in a peaceful manner, and acceptable to all, following the footprints of the August 4 elections.
What is particularly significant in the local body elections, and which has frustrated the people most, is that the clean and competent candidates were not elected. Most of the candidates elected in the mayoral and councilor posts are persons of dubious and questionable credentials.
In all, 1,600 candidates contested in the August 4 elections. Of them, 992 for the city corporations, that include 46 for the mayoral posts, 752 for the councilor posts and 194 women candidates, contested in reserved seats of councilor. 608 candidates contested in the elections for nine municipalities. Four mayors and 157 councilors were elected in the four city corporations, and nine mayors and 108 councilors were elected in the nine municipalities.
As far as cleanliness is concerned, many of these newly elected mayors and councilors are accused in various criminal cases including murder, extortion and corruption. Some of them are still behind bars and waiting to be tried.
Badruddin Ahamed Kamran, who contested from jail, got 83 thousand more votes than his nearest contender and was elected mayor of the Sylhet City Corporation. Kamran, who is still under custody, is accused in four cases of corruption.
Out of 27 newly elected councilors of the Sylhet City Corporation, at least 10 councilors are accused in criminal cases that include murder, illegal possession of firearms and extortion. Some of them were in jail before the elections, and two of them are still in jail and waiting to be tried.
The newly elected mayor of Barisal City Corporation is accused in two cases and was also among the graft suspects listed by the ACC. In all, 12 councilors are accused in various criminal cases out of 40 newly elected councilors of Barisal City Corporation.
The newly elected mayor of Khulna City Corporation is accused in five cases. Out of 31 newly elected councilors of Khulna City Corporation, eight are accused in criminal cases. Two of them contested from jail while one elected councilor is still absconding to avoid arrest. Six newly elected councilors of the Rajshahi City Corporation are charged with various criminal cases.
The joint forces, carrying out drives against the corrupt politicians, captured at least 112 high profile politicians and businessmen, including several former ministers and lawmakers of the major political parties.
These high profile politicians, who were so long in jail on the charges of crimes and corruption under the Emergency Power Act, are now being released on bail because of delay in investigation.
The High Court, in a month, has stayed the proceedings of nearly 70 cases filed by the ACC against high-profile graft suspect politicians, including two former prime ministers. Only one bench of the High Court has granted bail to at least 76 graft suspects in a month, 33 of whom were among those listed by the ACC.
The caretaker government (CTG) took a commendable step for purging the polluted politics and bringing the top-most corrupt politicians, who were hitherto believed to be immune from the normal law of the land, to justice.
The CTG won 105 cases filed against 154 people, mostly politicians and their family members, but failed to cross the next hurdle as the top graft convicts challenged the verdicts in the High Court.
Detention of political bigwigs under the Emergency Power Act is the easy part, but the crucial part is to clamp down on the crime lords and the godfathers of graft with a foolproof case for prosecution.
We have seen in the past that many detained political leaders with alleged links with high-profile crime and corruption could not be punished, as the charges against them were not specific.
It is sheer bad luck for the nation that elections have hardly helped in changing the people's lot or reflected people's will, except for once in 1970, when people mandated Awami League to seek redress from oppression by the Pakistani rulers.
Though the results from the recent local government elections have very little influence on the overall electoral politics involving more than 80 million voters, some trends and indications clearly suggest that election of clean and competent candidates in the upazila and general elections is still a distant dream.
An important lesson for the CTG as well as for the EC is that the political parties did not hesitate to nominate candidates accused in crime and corruption for the August 4 elections, despite the repeated urgings to nominate clean and competent candidates.
A new provision should be added immediately to the Representation of the People Order Ordinance 2008 to disqualify contestants convicted by a trial court for criminal offences, as the CTG is committed to rid the country's politics from the grip of the corrupt, crooked and criminal.
It is commendable that the EC has launched an investigation into the wealth statements and police records of the people's representatives elected to city corporations and municipalities.
All sorts of documents submitted during the electoral process by the newly elected local government officials were sent to the NBR and to the office of the inspector general of police for scrutiny.
According to the electoral rules, candidature of an elected representative might be cancelled if he or she had submitted false information or suppressed any information during the electoral process, and his or her election to the post will automatically be cancelled even after taking of the oath of the office.
A qualitative change in the country's leadership is a long-cherished demand of the nation. Election of the corrupt in the August 4 election was not an endorsement of corruption by the voters but lack of better substitutes. To bring this to an end, we must encourage the people with wisdom, honesty and ability to contest in the upazila and general elections. And the winners in August 4 elections charged with corruption must not be allowed to evade trail.
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