Gazipur election postponement disappointing

The High Court's stay order on the Gazipur City Corporation election for three months, just 10 days before voting day, has caught everyone off guard as it goes against Article 125(c) of the constitution which says that, "A court shall not pass any order or direction…in relation to an election for which schedule has been announced, unless the Election Commission has been given reasonable notice." Even the Chief Election Commissioner said that he only came to know about the matter from television scrolls.

It may be mentioned that the HC had also stayed the Dhaka North City Corporation mayoral by-polls for six months on January 17, 2018, scheduled for February 26. Thus it is twice now this year that the HC has stayed an election on short notice.

While we understand that there are some concerns surrounding a few technical aspects of the election, these are but minor issues. And any time an election schedule is announced, such minor issues may exist. Despite this, what we look forward to is people exercising their democratic right to freely cast their votes as that is one of the basic pillars of any democracy.

But when consecutive elections are deferred, especially in an important election year like this, there is the possibility for doubt to creep into the minds of people in regards to the EC's ability to conduct timely elections. Moreover, following the recent revamp of the EC, this was a test case for the commission to prove itself. This is why the Gazipur election had drawn the attention of the whole nation, as we eagerly waited to see how well the EC could acquit itself in conducting a free and fair election, especially with the next parliamentary election being around the corner.

With that in mind, we hope the EC will take all necessary steps to remove every obstacle so that voters can exercise their constitutional and democratic right to vote, at the earliest possible, and so that their confidence in the electoral system is restored.