What should practically be the components of the road map? From the public point of view, there are essentially two aspects to it. The first of course relates to how the Election Commission is going about the task of preparing an authentic voter list. The pilot project it initiated recently in Sreepur has now ended on a generally positive note. To be sure, there were some pitfalls, such as the quality of performance by primary school teachers left a room for improvement -- as far as the replication of the project goes. But these problems can be overcome fairly quickly, given a sense of urgency. A second aspect regarding the proposed roadmap concerns the issue of political party reforms as also electoral reforms. A wholesale restructuring and internal democratisation of the parties are certainly in order. As for the EC, the emphasis it has lately placed on the registration, funding, et al, of the parties holds out the prospects of transparency in the working of political organisations. Party reforms and electoral reforms are, in an important way, an integrated draft package the implementation of which will help ensure free and fair electoral processes by way of institutionalising democracy.

Everything said and done, though, the extent to which the road map will guarantee progression to an election framework depends on how soon the government plans to lift the ban on indoor politics. The Awami League, the BNP and the Jatiya Party have a point when they insist on a withdrawal of the ban prior to their participation in any dialogue with the Election Commission. Since the CA has already spoken of a mid-July roadmap from the EC, it is advisable that the government lift the ban on indoor politics either prior to or not much later than that as a way of ascertaining political opinion on the various components of the roadmap. The bottom line is that the credibility upon which the roadmap will rest can only come if the political leadership is able to contribute substantively to it through talking to the Election Commission.