Govt, EC responsible for holding bad UP polls: speakers

A group of local government experts, election observers and academicians on Wednesday termed recently held local government elections ‘unfair and farcical’ which have frustrated people, escalated violence and lost voters’ confidence in the entire electoral system.
Urging the government to take immediate steps to protect democracy, they said both the government and Election Commission were responsible for holding such bad elections.
They came up with their remarks while addressing an opinion exchange meeting on the ‘Current Union Parishad Elections: Questioned polls and local administrative system’ at CIRDAP auditorium in the city.
Governance Advocacy Forum, in collaboration with Manusher Jonno Foundation, organised the meeting.
Local government expert Tofael Ahmed said there will never be any free and fair elections if the government does not want it.
‘The government and the people of the country now must think whether they will take the democracy on track,’ he said.
He criticised the EC for not paying necessary attention to the complaints raised by the affected people during the UP elections.
Sharmin Murshid, chief executive officer of Brotee, an election watchdog, alleged that fierce and deadly clashes and gross irregularities took place in local government elections.
In absence of EC’s step, the political activists did openly cast fake votes across the voting centres, she said.
She claimed that the chain of command of the political parties broke and that grassroots leaders were not complying with orders from the parties’ central offices.
Election Working Group director Abdul Alim said ignoring several thousand complaints, the EC published gazette of the UP election results.
‘It is very sad.’
Alim termed events of unopposed winning as abnormal, and said it had been a recent phenomenon as the government and the EC are not discussing with the polls stakeholders to build trust over the elections.
Governance Advocacy Forum coordinator Mohsin Ali said the EC has expressed its helplessness to hold free and fair elections.
Holding fair polls is not the only responsibility of the EC but also the government, he said.
Dhaka University teacher of development studies, Kazi Marful Islam, said the recent elections failed to gain acceptability.
The unfair elections would instil apathy and frustration among the constituents and that such trend will enhance violence, he observed.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net