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Political culture key obstacle to fair polls

Say 3 judges in full SC verdict on caretaker govt system

Shakhawat Liton
The confrontational political culture in the country is a major obstacle to holding free and fair parliamentary polls under partisan governments, three Supreme Court judges have observed in the full verdict on caretaker government.
Justice Abdul Wahhab Mia, who disagrees with the verdict that declared the caretaker system illegal, says animosity and adversarial attitude among the political parties is so high that the leader of the
House and the leader of the opposition in parliament are determined not to sit together or even meet each other at national events.
General elections cannot be held under political parties in power as long as this persists and presently there is no alternative to a non-party caretaker government for holding the polls in a free, fair and peaceful manner, Justice Wahhab observes in the judgement.
Another judge of the apex court, Justice
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Nazmun Ara Sultana, agrees with Justice Wahhab's views and judgment.
Justice Imman Ali, who also favours retaining the caretaker government, notes: "In the context of our political rivalry, we cannot seriously expect the party in power to abstain from exerting unfair influence during election. Hence, no fair election can be held while any particular party is still in power. Therefore, there is an obvious need for a neutral interim government."
Moreover, the country's history suggests the ruling party that continues to enjoy power even after the dissolution of parliament is unable to hold free and fair election to full satisfaction, and the opposition invariably alleges undue influence on the polls process by the ruling, he adds.
This is a common phenomenon both in national and local elections, he observes in the full verdict.
The full verdict of the Appellate Division was released on September 10, more than 16 months after the seven-member SC bench headed by the then chief justice ABM Khairul Haque declared illegal the constitutional provision for caretaker system.
According to Justice Wahhab, money and muscle power will rule the election in the absence of the system. Besides, the party in power will resort to exerting undue influence upon the government machinery to rig elections and manipulate results. In the process, democracy will again be a far cry and the supremacy of the people would remain nowhere to be seen.
"It will be a mockery to say that all powers of the Republic belong to the people as enshrined in article 7 of the Constitution unless the people get a chance to practise democracy, that is, they can exercise their rights of adult franchise in selecting their own representatives in a free, fair and impartial general election of members of parliament; the 13th Amendment has ensured the said rights of the people...." he observes.
The Awami League-led government that abolished the caretaker system in June last year did little to come out of such antagonistic political culture.
In the wake of 2006-07 political violence on the
streets, the ruling AL in its 2008 election manifesto pledged to change that culture, which hampers good governance, rule of law and effectiveness of the House.
"Tolerance and decency will be developed in the political culture and efforts will be taken to formulate a code of conduct acceptable to all," reads the manifesto.
But thanks to AL's indifference to fulfil the promise, the situation on the ground has worsened, at least to a certain degree.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly claimed that a free and fair election is possible under her government.
In support of her claim, she says since taking office in January 2009, the AL-led alliance has held elections to 481 upazilas, 275 municipalities, 4,431 unions, two city corporations and by-polls to 12 constituencies.
All these elections were free and fair, she told parliament onSeptember 19.
"People were able to elect candidates of their choice... It proves that the democratic atmosphere conducive to free and fair elections has returned to the country during the Awami League-led grand alliance government. Therefore, there is no need for the caretaker government," Hasina added.
But Justice Wahhab Mia, like many other political analysts, differs.
In his dissenting verdict, he says holding one or two or more by-polls in a free, fair and peaceful manner under the ruling party in no way guarantees free, fair and peaceful national polls. "Similarly, holding elections to the local bodies by the Election Commission under the political party in power in a free and fair manner does not make any difference, because by holding such elections a political party does notgo to power," Justice Wahhab adds.