Govt refusal to deploy army in by-polls irks EC
Constitutional provision ignored
The government has ignored a constitutional provision by refusing the
Election Commission's request for army deployment in the
just-concluded by-elections to two constituencies and polls to five
municipalities.
Article 126 of the constitution says: "It shall be the duty of all
executive authorities to assist the Election Commission in the
discharge of its functions."
Talking to The Daily Star, Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul
Hussein said the government did not meet all their requirements though
the constitution stipulates that it do so.
He said they are still in the dark why the government disregarded
their plea for army deployment in the two constituencies.
Sohul said they might discuss the issue at their next meeting.
At a meeting on January 10, the EC decided to deploy army in the
by-elections to Habiganj-1 and Brahmanbaria-3. The Armed Forces
Division high-ups present there also agreed on the need for army
deployment, said a senior EC official.
Accordingly, the EC sent a letter to the AFD, a division under the
Prime Minister's Office, and asked it to arrange for troops deployment
in the constituencies.
Later, the commission asked the government to deploy army also in five
of the 12 municipalities that went to the polls on Thursday.
But it did not get any response from the government that had earlier
deployed army in the election to 65 municipalities between January 12
and 18.
The government's indifference prompted the EC to convene another
meeting on January 25, two days before the by-elections and municipal
polls, to review the security measures in the polling areas.
At that meeting, when election commissioners Sohul Hussein and M
Sakhawat Hossain enquired about the matter, an AFD official said it
was still under consideration.
The EC again wrote to the government but got no response.
Instead of deploying troops, the government engaged regular law
enforcers to maintain law and order in the polling areas.
Though the government did not meet the EC's requirement for army
deployment, the elections were peaceful barring a few stray incidents.
In February 2009, parliament amended the Representation of the People
Order to scrap the authority granted for the military men on election
duty during the tenure of the caretaker government before the 2001
parliamentary polls.
In the 2001 and 2008 parliamentary elections, members of the armed
forces had the power to arrest anyone without warrant within 400-yard
radius of a polling station. But they had to be given the status of
"law enforcement agencies" to exercise the authority.
Awami League demanded scrapping of the military men's authority after
its debacle in the 2001 parliamentary elections. The party, however,
accepted it during the last caretaker government's tenure.
AL got back to its previous stance against the military's authority
after its victory in the 2008 parliamentary polls. But then again the
AL-led government went for army deployment in local body elections.
While ratifying local government ordinances promulgated during the
last caretaker government rule, it did not scrap the defence forces'
status as law enforcement agencies.
Many lauded the present government's support for the EC in holding the
municipal polls between January 12 and 18.
But its refusal to deploy army in the by-elections has brought into
question its sincerity in strengthening the EC in line with its
electoral pledges.
The main opposition BNP, which is now vocal about the EC's
constitutional authority and its independence, did otherwise while in
power.
"The government is constitutionally bound to fulfil whatever the EC
needs to conduct elections. But the government did not do so. Even the
EC could not exert its constitutional authority to put pressure on the
government," BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain said at a
press conference yesterday.
But it was the BNP-led government that refused to entertain the EC's
request for army deployment in union parishad and municipal elections
in 2003 and 2004.
It also did not respond to the EC's decision to deploy army in all
polling centres in the by-election to Dhaka-10 constituency in 2004.
The government's refusal prompted the opposition candidate to take the
matter to the High Court that asked the government to meet the EC's
request for army deployment. But the government deployed army only at
some strategic points in the constituency.
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=171973
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