Civil Society Initiative for Accountable Development
Wanted 'fit' candidate for 'fair' election
M. Inamul Haque
Bangladesh had three Parliamentary Elections under Caretaker Government in 1991, 1996 and 2001. Those elections are now a model to the whole world, and many people in other countries are demanding such type of elections. But my question is, how much fair were those elections? Those elections could not stop the corrupt, land grabbers, loan defaulters and other criminals to take part and dominate the whole process. As a matter of fact, the election activities have become the playground of those elements, because of their black money and muscle power. The good and capable persons who can run the country quite well stay away with their hands crossed for want of such might and money. The debate started recently by the CPD, Prothom Alo and The Daily Star proposes to launch a movement all over the country in the style of 'Joggya Prarthi Andolon'. A 'Joggya Prarthi' meaning appropriate candidate may also mean 'capable' or/and 'fit' or/and 'qualified' candidate. To elect a peoples' representative with those qualities altogether, the proposal sounds if not ideal, definitely very good. But my question is, how shall you judge the person having those qualities ? You cannot do it by interviewing, or from CV, or from any sort of application format. Because, it is just impossible to find a person who did not get benefit from the culture of corruption we practiced since the birth of our nation. I want to solve this question by positive use of laws, not sparing anybody on favour. But my other questions remain on the board. Where does a caretaker government stand when black money dominates the whole electioneering? Who shall guarantee the fairness of the government elected thereby during its long tenure? What will happen to the local government elections, when the caretaker government will be absent? Nowadays, a candidate for the parliamentary seat spends more than crore taka on electioneering. Once a candidate is declared elected, he and his promoters immediately set out to regain the money spent. Some students and labour leaders also contest in the parliamentary elections. Where from do they get money? An honest man in this country shall never dare to contest elections in the prevailing situation. Can we not make the system approachable to every man and hold fair election in the real sense? I want to propose the electoral college system for a fair election in this country. The points of my proposal are given below. The entire election procedure shall stand upon a three-step voting system. 1. First, people shall elect 1,00,000 `Jana Protinidhi ' in the range 500 to 1000 voters per seat. Thus it shall be easy for the candidate to get known to the voters. 2. The Jana Protinidhi candidates shall seek votes on party tickets or independently. As soon as this election is complete it shall be clear which party is going to form the government. 3. In the second step, the Jana Protinidhis shall elect 10,000 Union/Ward Chairmen, 1,000 Thana Chairmen and 200 Members of the Parliament (MP). 4. In the third step, the Thana Chairmen shall elect District Chairmen, and the MPs shall elect the Leader of the Parliament, the Speaker and the President. 5. All the elections shall be held under the same Caretaker Government, so that the winning party coming to power cannot influence the later elections. 6. The Jana Protinidhis, Members of the Parliament or any political person shall not be allowed to take a seat in the management board of a government institution. 7. Any one must be a Jana Protinidhi in the first step to seek nomination to the higher posts. If a Protinidhi gets elected to a higher post he shall nominate a person for his vacant post. 8. A government servant can be elected as Jana Protinidhi. In that case he will work as independent member at any stage, and shall work on deputation. 9. The tenure of the Jana Protinidhis shall be maximum three years. A Jana Protinidhi shall loose his seat on floor crossing. 10. All the Jana Protinidhis in any post other than the President can be called back on no confidence vote once in a year. 11. Spending by the candidates on posters, leaflets, graffities, shall be banned. The Election Commission shall be responsible for the publicity of the candidates. M. Inamul Haque is Director General, Bangladesh Haor & Wetlands Development Board.
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