After five months of treatment at the Evercare Hospital in Dhaka, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia finally returned her home this evening.

Khaleda was discharged from Evercare around 5:00pm and went back to her Gulshan residence at 6:50pm, said the party's media cell member Shairul Kabir Khan.

The former prime minister had been admitted to Evercare on August 9 last year and treatment for various health complications.

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Khaleda discharged from hospital after 5 months

As the country gears up for the 12th parliamentary election, it is disheartening to see the landscape marred by laminated and polythene-coated posters, despite a ban on their use by the Election Commission. The problem has been especially prevalent in Dhaka which has been plastered with such posters mostly by ruling party candidates, and to a lesser degree by independents and candidates from smaller parties. The plastic coating is apparently used to protect posters from being ruined by fog. But that doesn't justify breaching a ban meant to reduce the environmental cost of election campaigning.

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It’s time for election campaigns to go green

The proliferation of such posters, however, is but part of a wider concern about environmental degradation in conventional campaigns. Besides plastic pollution, candidates have also been seen using high-volume microphones and loud music across the city, causing discomfort to the public, especially vulnerable groups like the sick, children, and the elderly. The wide distribution of promotional materials like caps and leaflets, which are invariably thrown away, or irresponsible use of disposable items like cups and plates by supporters is also posing a threat to the health of the city.

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Voters without choice are just glorified dummies

This is totally unacceptable. Candidates, many among them future lawmakers, are expected to lead by example, not encourage or be themselves engaged in breaching environmental regulations. Unfortunately, despite having the scope for alternative, modern campaigning practices using digital platforms, our politicians still seem to prefer conventional methods of public engagement. According to a study by the Environment and Social Development Organization (ESDO), the 2020 mayoral election in Dhaka saw the use of a staggering 340 million plastic-coated posters. The number could double this time, the ESDO warns. During a visit to a number of constituencies in Dhaka, our reporter saw plastic-coated posters being used indiscriminately.

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A Potemkin election in Bangladesh?

Who will take responsibility for the environmental repercussions of such actions? Why is the Election Commission failing to prevent them, or punish non-compliant candidates and parties? Experts talked about the importance of including the ban on plastic use in campaigns, imposed on December 25, in the electoral code of conduct. While this may be the appropriate thing to do, the fact is, without proper enforcement, no amount of lawmaking is good enough. While we expect the EC, particularly returning officers, to play an effective role in ensuring compliance of electoral rules, it is the candidates who must recognise their responsibility in this regard and ensure environmentally friendly campaigning practices.

With their conflicting remarks, four ministers have caused confusion about whether BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia can engage in politics.

Law Minister Anisul Huq began it all on Sunday when he said there was no legal bar to Khaleda getting involved in politics again but wondered whether her poor health would even allow her to do so.

Yesterday, he again said that even though there is no bar to Khaleda engaging in politics, people think she practically cannot do so as she is sick.

She, however, cannot take part in the election as she is convicted, he reiterated.

"You will have to understand what the real situation is. It has been stated in the application submitted by her brother for her release from jail that she was seriously ill and her life would be in jeopardy if she was not given better treatment," the law minister said.

The former prime minister was convicted and imprisoned in a corruption case in 2018. She was released in March 2020 with an executive order and on condition that she would not leave the country and must receive medical treatment in the country.

Agriculture Minister and AL Presidium Member Abdur Razzaque on Wednesday echoed the law minister and said Khaleda could run her party and direct party activists even from jail.

However, Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud yesterday contradicted the law and agriculture ministers and said Khaleda could not engage in politics due to the conditions for her release.

"Considering her age and health issues, she was released and allowed to stay home on conditions. As per the conditions, she cannot take part in politics," he said while talking to reporters at his secretariat office.

"Anyone sentenced to two or more years cannot take part in elections as per the law of Bangladesh. Khaleda Zia has been sentenced to more than two years. So, there is no question of her participating in elections," he said.

The confusion was further fuelled by Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader who made contradictory comments within two days.

On February 20, he said the BNP chief must follow the conditions of her release if she wants to get involved in politics.

Then yesterday, Qauder said that as a convicted person, there is no scope for Khaleda to get involved in politics.

"Has Khaleda Zia been relieved from her sentence? She is convicted. Has she been released [from jail]?" he said.

"Had she not been sick, she would have been in jail. So where is the opportunity [for her] to get involved in politics?" he said while addressing a meeting of the AL and its associate bodies.

All four ministers, however, have said that she cannot run for office.

Analyses of Bangladesh's last three elections would reveal the dark side of our politics, which to a large extent replicates practices marked by a policy of exclusiveness, keeping the major opposition party out of the fray, and creating a loyal opposition obligated to the ruling party. It is disheartening to see the ruling party, a political party with established credentials, replicate a highly undemocratic innovation of a military ruler of keeping a tamed opposition in parliament. In fact, in its turn, the Awami League has gone a step further and appointed a few of them as cabinet ministers.

The 12th parliamentary election is just round the corner, and Bangladesh has come under international radar in this regard. Our development partners, the UK and US in particular, have expressed their views on the type of elections they would like to see in 2023. The US ambassador did not mince words when he said that his country wanted to see a fair and "internationally" acceptable election in Bangladesh. It has also engaged the attention, and rightly so, of the ruling party.

Firstly, no election would be valid without the participation of the other major political party, the BNP. And here lies the problem. BNP is loath to participate in the next general election under the current government running the administration. And the Awami League would not have it any other way. It would not relinquish power before the expiry of its term. The respective positions expose the irony of the situation in which we see a reversal of the previously held positions of the two parties. Awami League, once a strident votary of a neutral caretaker system, no longer thinks it a good idea, and the BNP, which had initially opposed the idea, thinks that the only way a free and fair election could be ensured is by having a neutral body at the helm of the administration.

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How fares the opposition in Bangladesh?

I believe both the ideas are fundamentally flawed. The most important point the two parties have missed is that neither the ruling party nor the administration under it runs the election. And it is not the caretaker government, if there is one, which would conduct the elections either. It is the Election Commission (EC) that organises and conducts the election with the support of the administration. So why these rigid positions?

Take the BNP's position, for example. Once bitten, twice shy, the BNP made a blunder in 2014 but participated in the elections in 2018, only to burn its fingers. The 2018 election was an election that never was. It was an aberration that sapped the Election Commission's credibility and people's interest in politics. Therefore, the BNP is not remiss in thinking that with Awami League in power, a free and fair election is not possible. And none other than the former chief election commissioner (CEC) has very recently admitted that there are challenges in holding the polls under a party government. It would have been a great help had he spelt out what the challenges were that he had faced in his five years in office. It is a sad reflection on our system that while other democracies have elections with the incumbent in charge of the administration without anyone questioning its credibility, we need special dispensation to conduct our parliamentary elections. And this is only because the institutions and agencies in these countries work independently and possess enough spine to resist undue pressure. Thus, the gripe.

But why is the Awami League so unsure of itself as not to accept a neutral dispensation running the administration during the conduct of national elections? It had claimed in 2014, as it does now, that it was riding the crest of popularity with its many achievements. Thus, one may ask: Did it have to resort to the blatant measures and ploys to ensure victory in 2014 and 2018? If one would need a lantern to find BNP leaders during elections, as some Awami League leaders think, then why not relent on your position? The Padma Bridge is a purple patch of the Hasina administration, and should be a vote catcher for the party. So why the uncertainty? Why so many new ordinances to stifle free speech? Why equate the party with the state? Why root for a voting apparatus which has been discarded by most of the leading democracies in the world because of its susceptibility to tampering – the electronic voting machine (EVM)?

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Of Lemon, Soap, Vaseline and EVMs

Participatory elections do not necessarily mean a free and fair election. And we know that. Ultimately, it is the CEC and his commissioners who can make all the difference. An acceptable election depends on the Election Commission's ability to display its grit and resolve, exercise its writ, remain neutral, and be prompt to address complaints and proactive in detecting violations – unlike the former CEC and his team, whose belated reaction to any complaint was its hallmark. The million-dollar question is: Can the new Election Commission absorb the pressure of the ruling party, prevent the government's direct and indirect influence in the election process, and provide a level playing field for everybody? Past experiences in general do not engender confidence in the system.

In the final analysis, there are more compelling reasons for the BNP to participate in the election, and for the Awami League to allow an acceptable, free, fair and participatory election without resorting to the means of the past two. For the BNP, it would not like to be in the political wilderness it has been in the last 10 years. In 2018, everything was done to ensure that the BNP did not get the second highest number of seats and become the major opposition in parliament. Certainly, it deserved to win more than the six seats it did the last time. As for the Awami League, its seriousness in making the next election participatory is demonstrated by the comments of senior party members, including the prime minister. There is a realisation in the ruling party that the kind of elections held in 2014 and 2018 would no longer wash. The next election has to be not only accepted nationally, but internationally too. The question is whether the two can reach an agreement that would include arrangements of holding the Jatiya Sangsad election, making it impervious to the ruling party's influence.

Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan, ndc, psc (retd) is a former associate editor of The Daily Star.

The main purpose of various ministers' conflicting statements about whether BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia could engage in politics was to divert attention from BNP's ongoing movement, the party's Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said today.

Speaking to The Daily Star, Fakhrul said despite this attempt to "create confusion", the party's focus remains on its 10-point demand.

"Begum Zia is ill. Even today [Monday] she will go to the hospital for a health checkup. These [ministers' statements] are being said to create confusion between our party and the people. Besides, a section of the government wants to show the people that they are allowing Khaleda Zia to do politics. Another part says she can't do politics…"

Between February 19 and 23, four ministers -- Law Minister Anisul Huq, Road Transport and Bridges Minister and Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque and Information Minister Hasan Mahmud -- came out with conflicting statements on Khaleda's participation in politics.

After the law minister said there was no legal bar on Khaleda from engaging in politics, Quader and Mahmud said she could not engage in politics as she was convicted in a corruption case. Razzaque, meanwhile, echoed the law minister and said she could engage in politics.

All four, however, maintained that the former prime minister could not contest elections, as she was convicted.

"Our main issue is the 10-point demand, including a non-party caretaker government," Fakhrul told The Daily Star today. "They are creating this confusion to divert the discussion from this issue. If this confusion can be created, the government will benefit.

"They should talk about how to form a caretaker government, how to form a neutral government, how to hold a neutral election.""The character of Awami League that existed before the Liberation War is no longer there. Even the democratic position that the party had before 2007 is not there. It has completely become a dictatorship. They are in power and are trying to use that power to wipe out and eliminate opposition."

Placing emphasis on the party's 10-point demand, Mirza Fakhrul said, "We want a meaningful and fair election with the participation of all, which is not possible under the Awami League government. Therefore, elections should be held under a neutral government."

Asked what BNP would do if there is no caretaker government, as AL leaders including Quader have asserted, Fakhrul said, "We will fulfil the demand through agitation. No movement has seen success overnight. We have come a long way."

About BNP's ongoing movement, he said, "Our [road] march is very successful. Obstacles are coming FROM everywhere, but the movement is getting stronger with the spontaneous participation of the people. We are conducting all our movements peacefully and will continue do so.

"Despite their provocations, we ourselves have not broken the peace anywhere. We have not carried out any programme where there was a possibility of breach of peace."

"The Awami League have been conducting counter-programmes and creating conflict. The police are firing at our movement … Awami league, Chhatra League are attacking. So far, 17 BNP leaders and activists have been killed. And the biggest weapon they have always used is filing numerous false cases.

"But people can't be stopped. In every part of the country, people are coming out of their homes to join the movement," he added.

About Awami League's allegation that BNP engages in terrorism, Fakhrul said, "It is a lie. No point of making allegations; you have to prove it. None of the allegations against us in 2013-14 are true. In 2018, they used the state, carried out terrorism, false cases and conducted one-sided elections. Our intellectuals, media are not able to catch them. I know why it can't. There are various pressures, pressure is being put on the media, self-censorship has come among them.