Bogus voter list stokes up the heat

Inevitably, bypassing all these dark scenarios, the national mood is now upbeat with the parliamentary election due in January, 2007 and public attention is focused on EC and the caretaker government. With the High Court now nullifying the controversial voter list should the CEC resign to save EC from further disgrace? Shouldn't he be made liable for draining Tk 60 crore on bogus voter list project?

Soon after his appointment as CEC, Justice M.A. Aziz has attracted controversy for his frenzied attempt at preparing a fresh voter list in contravention of the existing rules that mandate updating the previous list. His conflict with the two past members of the commission and his insensitive utterance at times and inaccessibility to the press have added to the controversy. But surpassing all the phrases doing the rounds usually during elections, such as rigging and booth capturing, a new one has been added ahead of the parliamentary polls : bogus voters' list. It is worth recalling what the CEC told during an interview with the media representatives: the EC just works as a post box and it has no hand in manipulating an election result and it will meet the people's expectation without being partisan. But recent reports carried by the electronic and print media about preparation of bogus voter list even in the capital city have proved it otherwise.

Evidently, a list of non-existent 900 bogus voters handed over to the Assistant Registration Officer, Agargaon allegedly at the instance of the EC for inclusion in the draft voters list tarnished its image. Moreover the EC has not yet come out with any explanation about the inclusion of bogus voters in about 20 districts revealed in the preliminary investigation carried out by the media. Astoundingly, another report suggests that against the Char Ashrayan project in Rangpur district although not a single soul lives there, some 2200 names have been put on the draft voter list. Surprisingly, some thousand stranded Pakistanis living in Khulna and even in Mirpur area of Dhaka city have been included in the draft voter list against their will.

It is worth recalling the role Election Commission in India played in the recently held Bihar and West Bengal Assembly elections. After receiving complaints the commission officials visited Bihar and deleted as many as 18 lakh fake names from the electoral rolls and added about four lakh names dropped earlier. While visiting West Bengal on receipt of complaints that bogus voters existed there, the EC, after making a thorough survey and checking, deleted over 13 lakh names of false voters from the electoral rolls and admitted 21 lakh new names in the list. With the opposition, namely the Trinamul-BJP combine and the Congress nurturing high hopes that this time they might have a more level ground to fight, the left Front won the election for the seventh time with a landslide margin. And pleasantly true, the parties losing the election did not have a word of complaint.

One factor that played a crucial role in helping the Left Front to win was its choice of candidates: they did not issue nominations to most of the past senior ministers in consideration of the dismal track record they left behind and secondly they had chosen candidates who were young, energetic and talented. Moreover, the EC played a completely neutral role judiciously deploying state and central security forces, especially in the trouble-ridden places. Unlike the EC members in our country who keep themselves shut in the capital city all the time even after receiving complaints of malpractice, Election Commissioner K.J. Rao travelled through the state extensively to learn about electoral malpractices and then set about trying to contain them.

Coming back to our case, the first and foremost duty of the commission should be to handle their job in a free and fair manner without any bias to any of the parties contesting the election and the law enforcement machinery should remain completely at the disposal of the Election Commission during the three months of its tenure. With the track record of the present EC during the last few months, it does not even remotely seem that it can fulfil people's expectation. Better the CEC should resign yielding place to a neutral non-partisan CEC to hold the parliamentary election really in a free and fair manner.

The BNP-led alliance government speaks in riddles. On the one hand it says that it will participate in the dialogue. On the other, it says that a free and fair election could be possible with the existing laws and form of the caretaker government and EC.

Compounding with the difficulties people experience in this hot summer days for non-availability of water and power, the letter throwing game has stoked up much more heat than they can bear with. Apprehension, despondency and despair hang over the country as people ponder the difficulties and hardship in the days to come because of the crippling state of business, transportation and non-functioning of the development sectors.

Unhappily for the incumbent government or any party taking fancy in that line, the country today appears doomed to endure governments or institutions that lose their way. When crises require leaders to show political will and flexibility, all they produce is the petty politics of compromise brokered after huge blood letting, clashes, conflicts and orgy of destruction.

During the last few years, people in the driving seat have squandered a unique opportunity of salvaging the politics and economy of the country. There are ample evidences that masses were ready, even eager to hear some of the hard facts that intimate a yearning for change. But for a change to take roots, the country needs leadership with bold and persistent experimentation. And the best way a populist government can do it is to treat people's mandate as a tool for governing rather than as an asset to be hoarded for all time.

But with the election just seven months away the leadership must be able to produce the kind of jolt that will cause people even in the remote tea- shops, to talk once again about the future with hope, not fear.

The major parties have been feuding for more than two years on the composition and powers of the caretaker government and Election Commission. How much they have won, people do not know. But people know it for certain that the country has lost a lot and will lose a lot more unless there is any reconciliation. With all the hopes and trusts that the people have invested in the government till now, it can ill-afford to prove unequal to the task. Those in the administration must be knowing it better that the country's economy is heading towards an inexorable decline. It may deal a further blow to multiparty democracy extinguishing the halo and glimmer of hope. With all that has happened in the past and the problems that have gripped the country now, the ruling party should consider it an awesome obligation to make people believe that they are masters of their destiny. The country now needs leaders armed with more will than anything else to stimulate the economy that is sinking.

Md. Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.