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| Photo: Shafiq Islam/ Drik News |
IN his reaction after being expelled from the CPI (M) (Communist Party of India-Marxist), Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said on August 8 that the party should appreciate him as he didn't compromise with the constitutional position of the speaker. "No responsible person or authority can treat the speaker as belonging to a party," he added. Somnath was asked to resign from his post and vote against a confidence motion regarding a civilian nuclear deal between the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and the United States.
A person can belong to a party, but the speaker is a neutral constitutional authority, Somnath firmly believes. Many critics of political parties and its functions may agree with Somnath that political parties often espouse a certain ideology and vision, but countries may have other interests for the greater interest of general people.
After local government elections in Bangladesh, political parties are now arguing with the government to get back their democratic and constitutional rights.
A legal battle is going on between the government and the political parties as to whether local government in Bangladesh should be partisan or non-partisan. According to the latest news, the Awami League (AL) and BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) backed elected mayors and councilors are now going to pursue a legal challenge against the new electoral rules that require the winners to resign their party positions before taking the oath of office.
The caretaker administration promulgated this law through the Local Government (City Corporation) Ordinance-2008 and Local Government (Municipality) Ordinance-2008 on May 14. If an elected mayor or councilor fails to abide by the legal provisions, he will be disqualified from taking oath of office.
The affected political parties declined to accept the new provision, and said that this would create a vacuum in the leadership of the political parties at the grassroots level. But the interim government wants non-partisan local government authorities. The Election Commission (EC) was of the opinion that the local government elections should be non-partisan.
Since independence in 1971, a number of attempts have been made to tinker with the local government system in Bangladesh. Changes have been made from time to time in terms of the nomenclature of tiers of local government, but almost nothing was done to strengthen local government. Therefore, the structure of the local government system has remained more or less unchanged.
After January 11, 2007, when the interim government came to power, many reforms were started, even in the local government, as the government realised that the successive governments since 1971 had tried to use the local government system for their own political interests. The party or regime in power wanted to make the local government representatives their power base and manipulated the system to this end.
Although they were non-political as per legal status, all local government elections after 1990 were political. Moreover, extensive politicisation and moral decadence took place during the autocratic regime of General H.M. Ershad (1982-1990). His upazila system of local administration failed to do any good to the rural people.
In course of the reform process, the caretaker government cited the provision that candidates must not have any political affiliation or attachment, but a writ petition was filed in the High Court (HC) challenging the legality of this provision.
In response to the writ petition, the HC observed in the judgment that since the functions and activities of the political parties were acknowledged as per Article 152 of the constitution of Bangladesh, the electoral rules restricting the use of political parties' affiliation in the city corporation and municipality polls were illegal.
As a result, the local government election process of Bangladesh gets legal support to be political in nature.
We do respect the HC verdict, but an elected candidate takes an oath, which doesn't mention any political platform, to uphold the constitution of his/her country. Everybody will agree that any political system is imperfect, but a society or a country needs a political figure who listens to the heart of the people and makes the best decision in the best interests of his/her people.
The people expect a leader who can directly address them without being censored by his/her political party, or worrying about the backlash from pundits. A good leader will have the ability to get those that cannot find common ground to at least sit at a table and hear the other's point of view.
A good leader will instill in his/her people the confidence of character and morality of the spirit needed to get the people through times of crisis. A good leader does not look to point the finger when things go wrong. A good leader finds ways to rectify the situation and make improvements. A good political leader needs to achieve the best interests of the people. A good political leader is more akin to a manager than a politician.
A good political leader doesn't need a party portfolio. Similarly, good political parties can create more than one good political figure by practicing their good ideologies. However, according to the provision, an elected leader is not barred from being a member of a political party.
In line with other electoral reforms carried out by the CTG, the new ordinance will impose a bar against individuals legally proven to be war criminals, persons with records of loan defaults within a period of a year prior to nominations, full-time and part-time government employees, and convicted felons and fugitives, from contesting in the elections.
In addition, according to a new law, an elected candidate will have to go through a background check, which includes his/her tax and wealth statements and police records.
We didn't feel good when Professor A.Q.M. Badruddoza Chowdhury had to leave the presidency following disagreement with the government on the question of "principle." We don't dispute the right of parties to exist, nor do we think they are ineffective in local government administration. We expect an elected official who can work at his/her office without being censored by his/her party.
Ripan Kumar Biswas is a freelance writer based in New York.
