Role of admin and police raises questions
It was a peaceful election in Gazipur—on the face of it. Noticeable by their absence were the traditional inter-party clashes, large-scale rigging and booth and ballot-paper capture—characteristics that have pervaded the system since a long time. But we are also informed that many centres were bereft of opposition polling agents; and there are pictures of ballot-paper stuffing and other incidents of violation of electoral codes.
Thus we restate what we had said after the Khulna elections. It is a self-evident truth that elections are not a one-day event. The days leading up to the date of polls and whether or not the various political parties were allowed equal space and afforded the same facilities to do their politicking, and whether all parties acted in consonance with the electoral code, are as important and indicative of the degree of “freeness” and “fairness” of the polls as the general atmosphere on the day of election. In fact the general atmosphere in many polling centres was eerily peaceful.
We wonder whether the EC had noticed the partisan role of some members of the administration or even judged their activities in the light of the electoral code when reports and pictures appeared in various media exposing the partisan role of the police. If it had then perhaps it would care to tell us what it thought of the picture showing the AL candidate in a police car, all smiles. Is chaperoning around of a candidate by the police permitted under the code? Or can the police accompany a candidate, as the police did the AL candidate, to cast his vote inside the booth, where nobody except the voter is allowed?
Peaceful election it might have been, but some fundamental questions remain.
- Courtesy: The Daily Star /Editorial /June 28, 2018
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