A senior official alone in the EC Secretariat has been virtually holding three vital posts of a joint secretary, an additional secretary and a secretary for longer than the last five months in the name of current charges.

Moreover, two posts of joint secretaries have also been vacant for a long time and two officers are now in current charge of the posts. A post of a deputy secretary has also been vacant for a few months, sources said.

The situation at the field level administration is even worse. In divisional headquarters, eight posts of deputy election commissioners (DEC) out of nine, 18 posts of district election officers out of 83 and 133 posts of thana election officers out of 503 have been vacant for at least two years.

All the vacant posts are being filled on ad hoc basis. Although there are officials who are fit to be promoted to the vacant posts, the EC Secretariat made no move to form the departmental promotion committee comprising senior officials from the Ministry of Establishment and Finance, sources said.

Field level officials are frustrated due to being deprived of their due promotions for a long time. More than 50 district election officers have been working at the same posts for over 20 years since their joining, due to complexities in promotion related rules.

They said revision of the existing voter list, that starts today, will also face enormous difficulties due to the vacancies in the posts.

Asked whether any step has been taken to fill up the vacant posts, Acting Secretary to the EC Secretariat Mohammad Zakoria told The Daily Star that no such step has been initiated yet.

In addition to the vacancies from the top to the bottom levels of the electoral administration, a hostile division among the officials of the EC Secretariat has deepened gradually, but no step has yet been taken to resolve the crisis.

Officials in the EC Secretariat and at the field level said conducting the next general election will be hampered if the crisis is not resolved soon. "Only a few officers are dominating the EC Secretariat victimising the rest of the officials," a source said.

"Everybody is now stressing the need for reconstitution of the Election Commission, but nobody is talking about strengthening the election administration," a senior official of the EC Secretariat told The Daily Star wishing anonymity.

ONE PERSON IN THREE POSTS!
The erstwhile secretary to the EC Secretariat, SM Zakaria, had been appointed as an election commissioner on January 16 this year, a few days before the tenure of his contractual appointment to the earlier post expired. Joint Secretary to the EC Secretariat Mohammad Zakoria was also delegated with additional current charge of the additional secretary and the secretary on the same day.

The government in January appointed a secretary from a ministry to the vacant post of secretary to the EC Secretariat, but the official declined to join the post, sources said. Since then Joint Secretary Mohammad Zakoria has been simultaneously discharging duties of two other posts of the additional secretary and the secretary in the EC Secretariat, sources said.

Acting Secretary Mohammad Zakoria, even allowed his personal secretary to use the office room of the additional secretary in the EC Secretariat, as the government has not appointed anyone to the post yet.

Zakoria participated in an election-training programme last month in Korea showing his designation as the joint secretary while he was also discharging the duties of the acting secretary. He is looking after the UNDP funded project for 'Strengthening the Election Commission for Improvement in the Electoral process' as its national project director, a post which is usually held by an additional secretary. Zakoria signed documents as the additional secretary without mentioning that he is in current charge of the post, sources said.

On the other hand, Election Commissioner SM Zakaria is continuing to use the office room of the secretary even though he was appointed as an election commissioner and the two rooms for commissioners still remain vacant.

DIVISION AMONG THE OFFICIALS
Once there was no division among the officials in the EC Secretariat and at its field level administration, but a conflict between the previous chief election commissioner (CEC), MA Syed, and the previous secretary, SM Zakaria, created room for a division to emerge among other officials about three years ago.

SM Zakaria, who boycotted the EC's meetings for about two years during the tenure of the former CEC allegedly patronised the division among the officials in the EC Secretariat. As a result, a few officials close to Zakaria celebrated his appointment to the post of an election commissioner on January 16 while other officials expressed their fear over the appointment.

The division among the officials in the EC Secretariat and at the field level administration still exists, sources said.

Officials, who are frustrated and angry over the division, are suggesting introduction of a cadre system for election officials. Two former CECs Abu Hena and MA Syed also proposed the government to introduce a cadre service.

"Once the cadre service is introduced, officials of the EC Secretariat can be transferred to other organisations of the government reducing the scope for corruption and the mentality for maintaining divisions," said a senior official wishing anonymity.