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8 info voters' right to know

SHAKHAWAT LITON
The ruling Awami League on Sunday asked the Election Commission to stop the publication of wealth statements submitted by candidates at the January 5 elections. A delegation of the party met the EC and made the surprising demand. This demand runs counter to a landmark Supreme Court verdict empowering voters with the right to know about candidates before they choose them as their representatives to govern the country on their behalf.
Neither the partisan governments nor the EC had contributed to providing voters with the right to be informed
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before a casting of votes. It was the judiciary that had come forward following a petition filed by some lawyers.
The High Court, in a verdict in May 2005, ordered the disclosure of eight-point particulars, including the wealth of each candidate contesting in the parliamentary polls. The HC also directed the EC to make public the eightpoint particulars, including educational qualifications and police records, moves that would help voters pick the right candidates. The Appellate Division in December 2007 upheld the HC verdict. Thus, it has become binding on the EC and others to follow the verdict during the parliamentary polls this time around.
In line with the apex court's verdict, the Representation of the People Order (RPO) was amended before the 2008 polls, incorporating
a provision making it mandatory for every individual willing to contest the parliamentary election to submit the particulars in affidavits along with application-seeking candidacies.
The AL at the time did not find anything wrong with the system before the 2008 polls. The party was not in power immediately before seeking a popular mandate at the 2008 election. The BNP was in power in between 2001-2006 and it found things going wrong with the HC verdict. So, reportedly on the advice of some leaders of then outgoing ruling BNP, an unknown individual filed a petition with the Appellate Division seeking a stay order on the HC verdict. And interestingly, the Appellate Division stayed the operation of the HC verdict weeks before the January 22, 2007 cancelled election, triggering a huge outcry. The BNP did
not like to disclose the particulars of its candidates before the election, afraid of the truth behind their wealth and assets becoming public knowledge.
The situation, however, changed in the period of the past caretaker government-led by Fakhruddin Ahmed. The apex court in December 2007 vacated the stay order and upheld the HC verdict. On the suggestion of the EC, the interim government brought about amendments to the RPO to implement the apex court verdict.
Now, the AL has adopted a stance against a disclosure of the wealth statements of their candidates. The reason is clear. Some AL ministers and MPs' wealth statements published in different newspapers have triggered a huge outcry over the question of whether they made
their huge assets legally or unlawfully within a period of five years. According to their wealth statements they submitted in the run-up to the 2008 polls, they did not have so much then. Yet there is a strong perception that many candidates did not disclose their real wealth and assets.
The EC had earlier proposed making a provision for punishing individuals over furnishing false information or concealing any information in the nomination papers or in the affidavits. But the AL-led government did not agree to the proposal.
Yet a disclosure of their huge assets might have embarrassed the AL high command when they are close to an easy two-thirds majority at the one-sided January 5 election. Amid such a situation, the AL delegation met the EC with
the demand for stopping the publication of wealth statements.
For establishing good governance, the AL in its electoral manifesto announced before the 2008 polls also promised to make public every year wealth statements and sources of income of the prime minister, ministers, MPs and their family members. But the AL in the last five years did not live up to its promise. Citizens could not know about their wealth and assets.
Now, people are being informed about the candidates. But unfortunately, more than half of the voters have already been denied their voting rights as the candidates in their constituencies were elected unopposed. And in the remaining constituencies, the election appears to be one-sided, making voters certainly less important in the political game.