EC's credibility

From the very start, two things were obvious. First, the ruling part left no one in doubt that it would leave no stone unturned, both legal and fraudulent ones, to win. Second, the BNP attached to this election a matter of prestige, that it had to win this election to prove to the public that it was running the government effectively with public support.

While no one should fault the BNP for its seriousness in contesting this by-election; there is nevertheless a lot to be said for what it eventually did to win it, that gave the BNP victory a very bad taste. I don't think even the die hard supporter of the BNP would say with his hand on his heart that this election was fought fairly and squarely. Therefore the call by the election observers to annul the result of the election finds acceptance among the people who wish the democratic process to succeed.

The role played by the Election Commission in this sequence of events is therefore of great significance and here the Commission has left all of us deeply disappointed. First, the leave of absence to which your editorial made rather kind reference, was one that the CEC should never have taken. He should have known how important his Commission is for conducting a fair election.

If someone had any doubt about the result, the way it was announced and the great speed with which Mr. Falu was given the oath as an MP removed even those lingering doubts. The inexplicable part of this sordid affair is that the BNP did not have to do any of this for it would have perhaps won this election , though by a reduced margin, without these fraudulent means. For the PM, she now has one of her political advisers in SQC who is held in contempt by the public for his recent utterances . Now she has another of her Political Advisers in the newly elected MP from Dhaka-10. Must the PM be any more oblivious of events around her, or what does she need to wake herself from this slumber into which she has gone?

We were so proud of our evolving democracy and now so utterly despondent. We appeal to the PM to wake up; help annul the results of the Dhaka-10 by-elections and for future of our democracy, recast the Election Commission. She can start doing this by replacing the secretary as the others she cannot. She needs to send a message to the Commission urgently.