Troops Request Ignored: EC proven weak
By refusing to deploy the army in the Narayanganj City Corporation
polls, the government seems to have gone against its oft-preached
political stand of making the Election Commission (EC) stronger to
hold the next parliamentary polls without reinstating the caretaker
government system.
One may argue that it is a local government body election and the
matter should not be linked with national politics. But how can one
ignore the bare fact which has emerged on the surface -- that the
government has shown a very dismissive attitude towards the EC?
If the government behaves this way in a local government election, how
will it behave if it remains in office during the next parliamentary
election? How will people keep confidence in the government's ongoing
campaign for making the EC able to conduct national polls under a
political government?
By declining to meet the EC's requirement for army deployment in the
NCC polls, the government has clearly ignored the constitutional
provision that gives the EC a guarantee of all assistance from all
executive authorities to perform its functions.
It has been proved once again how the EC faces hurdles in performing
its functions independently when a partisan government is in office.
The chief election commissioner has rightly said the government has
set a bad precedent by refusing at the last minute to deploy the army
in the NCC polls.
And the incident took place at such a crucial time when the two rival
camps, led by the ruling Awami League and opposition BNP, are now at
loggerheads over the question of a caretaker government system before
the next spate of parliamentary elections.
Many political analysts say this has been a glaring instance for the
BNP to justify its demand for the restoration of the CG, which will
provide all sorts of assistance to the EC for holding free and fair
parliamentary polls.
The constitution declares that the EC shall be independent in the
exercise of its functions -- ensuring free, fair and impartial
elections -- and be subject only to the constitution and to the law.
To provide the EC with a guarantee of its performing independently,
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.
The Local Government (City Corporation) Act made by the present also
clearly provides a legal framework for deployment of the army in the
NCC polls. The act includes the army, air force and navy under the
definition of law enforcement agencies, along with police, armed
police battalion, Rab, Ansars, Battalion ansars, Border Guard
Bangladesh and Coast Guard.
So, once deployed in election duties, members of the armed forces can
exercise the powers of the police in arresting anyone without a
warrant within a 400-yard radius of a polling station.
But what has happened in reality? The EC on October 16 sent a letter
to the Armed Forces Division (AFD), asking it to deploy four companies
of army personnel for five days from Friday morning to maintain law
and order in the election areas.
The home ministry on October 20 issued a circular on the security of
the polls, saying that four companies of army men would be deployed in
Narayanganj city areas. The circular said details about the deployment
would be given later.
The government did not care about its constitutional obligation to
deploy the army for the NCC polls as per the EC requirement. It not
only refused to meet the EC's requirement, but also completely ignored
it, and did not even show the courtesy of communicating with the EC
about the matter. In fact, the EC was completely in the dark until
Friday morning, when its leading figures disclosed that the government
had made no move to deploy the army.
It annoyed and frustrated the EC. But not for the first time has this
happened. The government did not meet the EC's requirements for army
deployment at the by-elections in Habiganj-1 and Brahmanbaria-3
constituencies in January this year.
None should think the past BNP government was a saint. 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.
Neither did the government respond to the EC's requirements for army
deployment in all polling centres at the by-election in the Dhaka-10
constituency in 2004.
And back in 1994, when the BNP was in power, the ruling party men
rigged a by-election in Magura with the assistance of the government
machinery, making the EC unable to prevent it due to the
non-cooperation of the then government. The then EC's inability in
turn strengthened the then opposition's movement for the introduction
of the caretaker government that was scrapped in June this year.
Therefore, making the EC unable to perform independently will in no
way help build public confidence, not to speak of the confidence of
opposition political parties, in the government's letting free and
fair national elections take place.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=208528
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