Editorial
CEC's frustration perfectly understandable
Higher judiciary must be fully aware of implications of its decisions
THE frustration of the Chief Election Commissioner is perfectly understandable. With the higher judiciary directing the Election Commission to allow a number of individuals earlier barred on legal grounds from contesting the general elections to take part in the polls after all, A.T.M. Shamsul Huda and his colleagues are truly in a dilemma. The elections are slightly over a week away and all necessary preparations have been made to hold them on schedule. But to what extent this schedule has been affected, even rocked, can be seen from the EC's move on Thursday, in line with Supreme Court directives, to have twenty one individuals take part in the December 29 elections. The CEC, in a clear tone of exasperation, has been sarcastic about these developments. The EC, he has said, will go on accepting candidacies till the day before the polls if the higher judiciary says it must.
There are very compelling reasons why the men at the helm of the Election Commission are now in a state of frustration. A very valid one involves the logistics needed to accommodate the new candidates on the ballot. The necessary manpower and all other elements required for the elections to be conducted properly and normally are already in place. But with the higher judiciary stepping in with decisions in favour of those earlier disqualified as candidates, some major complications have arisen. At all the constituencies where these new candidates will contest the polls, new ballot papers (literally in the tens of thousands) have now become necessary. The EC does not appear to have enough time on its hands to do that. But assuming it does, there is the further problem of making all these fresh ballot papers available to voting centres in the deep rural interior of the constituencies. And that is not all. With the EC having already allocated symbols to the candidates, the entry of the new candidates will mean new pressure on it about a reallocation of the symbols. There are other difficulties as well. The candidates cleared for polls participation by the higher judiciary will likely find themselves contesting against individuals from their own parties with the same symbols.
Against such a background of complexities, the higher judiciary needs to exercise the greatest caution. While dispensation of justice must be the highest priority, the need to hold a well-managed national election cannot also be given any less importance. There is a larger society whose political imperatives cannot be denied. At this newspaper, we believe it is of the utmost importance to have the elections held in a proper, free and transparent manner so that Bangladesh can get back to democracy. We fear, though, that the increasing legal tangle the EC is getting into over such last-minute candidacies will create management hurdles that may jeopardise the polls. Let the higher judiciary take a broader view by making it possible for the elections to be held without the hurdles that have lately been coming in their way. It will be a shame if the elections get tied into legal knots at this late stage.
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