The recent image of a Jubo League leader carrying a ballot unit panel of an electronic voting machine (EVM) after snatching it during a by-poll in Chattogram's Boalkhali upazila is the latest addition to a growing list of examples as to why EVMs may not be suitable for conducting a free and fair election in Bangladesh. Neither the assistant presiding officer nor the on-duty members of the law enforcement agencies were able to prevent the mighty Jubo League's union level leader Nirmalendu Dey Sumon from taking the EVM ballot unit panel away.

They were unable to recover it either; Awami League's union President Ratan Chowdhury recovered the panel and returned it to the polling centre.

This incident occurred only a few days after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said no one had yet made a sound and objective complaint about the use of EVMs, and the commission had taken a stand in favour of EVMs after conducting several tests. Would the CEC now, at the least, agree that his several tests didn't include robbing of ballot-equivalent parts of their very expensive toy? Clearly he has been oblivious to the arguments made by most of the political parties, except the ruling Awami League and its allies. There's even stronger opposition to the idea of using EVMs among the citizenry and civil society organisations. Have the polling officers not blamed these machines' inefficiency for slowing down the voting process, which left many voters frustrated and contributed to lower turnout?

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Two by-polls, 29 years apart – yet so similar?

While speaking at a workshop in Cox's Bazar on March 11, the CEC, perhaps unwittingly, revealed the Election Commission's obsession with EVMs when he said, "The Election Commission is always in favour of conducting elections using EVMs. We are also working to find innovative modern technology for future elections." His comment that "so far, there has been no objective complaint about rigged elections using EVMs" suggests that he has conveniently forgotten that these EVMs do not have any option for verifying voting records, owing to a design fault of not including the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) system.

Even though it has abandoned the ambitious plan to hold 50 percent of the next parliamentary election through EVMs due to the country's ongoing financial crisis, the EC still appears to be aiming at using EVMs in quite a significant number of parliamentary seats. On March 15, the commission decided to ask the finance ministry for allocating Tk 1,260 crore (equivalent to more than $1 billion) for repairing 110,000 EVMs. This means each EVM unit will cost Tk 115,000, which is nearly half the purchase price.

It was reported in this daily that each EVM was bought for Tk 235,000, a price 11 times costlier than neighbouring India. When better EVMs (including VVPAT) cost much less, then why does the EC want to repair discredited junk?

Earlier, it was reported in the media that about 40,000 EVMs were beyond repair. When these EVMs were introduced, the EC bought 150,000 EVMs, which means there's none, or very few, usable EVMs available now. Even then, the commission is insistent on having some EVMs in the upcoming parliamentary election.

According to Election Commissioner Anisur Rahman, the Election Commission just wants a pledge that its request would be approved. He told the media, "If we are assured of the required funds, we will go for the work immediately. We can even make half payment to the Machine Tools Factory in this fiscal year and the rest in the next fiscal year." This shows the EC's resolve to go the extra mile to have as many EVMs being used in the next election as possible.

It was reported in this daily that each EVM was bought for Tk 235,000, a price 11 times costlier than neighbouring India. When better EVMs (including VVPAT) cost much less, then why does the EC want to repair discredited junks?

Such an extraordinary emphasis on having elections in some constituencies make us wonder whether there's more to this than meets the eye. It may sound cynical, but questions can be raised whether the intention is to allow the workers of the ruling party to cover their unlawful act of pressing voting buttons for their candidates in the name of assisting the voters. Besides, allowing election officials up to one percent of the voters in a polling booth to cast votes through EVMs in the event of fingerprint mismatch also increases risks of manipulation.

The amount of money that the Election Commission is seeking to repair faulty EVMs is almost double the money allocated for the last parliamentary election – which was also a record in our electoral history. Available data shows that the allocation for the last national assembly election was Tk 700 crore, when the voter number was 104 million. The EC's original plan was to have voting in 150 constituencies through EVMs, and for that it sought Tk 8,711 crore, which would have cost us 14 times more than the previous election. In a way, the ongoing economic predicament has saved us from an exorbitant waste.

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Political dialogues: The long road to nowhere

Under these circumstances, it would be sensible to abandon such a wasteful wish, and concentrate on other crucial preparatory work for the coming election instead. CEC Habibul Awal, in his public statements, has acknowledged that there is a crisis. The reason for the crisis is evident in his words, "We still do not see a consensus among parties regarding the upcoming general election, which is essential. We do not want any political crisis before or during the elections."

It's well understood that the CEC doesn't want to take the role of a mediator, but getting an agreement from the contending parties on the rules of the game beforehand is not someone else's responsibility. 

Kamal Ahmed is an independent journalist. His Twitter handle is @ahmedka1

The 1970 Pakistan election was considered the "fairest and cleanest" election in Pakistan's history, which paved the way for Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan. However, Bangladesh has failed to institutionalise a sound electoral process in the 53 years since independence. Even though all elections held under caretaker governments (CG) were termed as mostly free and fair, elections held under political governments lacked credibility; some were even considered farcical. The key reason is political interference into the workings of election administration by successive political governments since 1972. To stay in power, the ruling class in most cases conducts purely decorative and ritualalistic elections denying independence to the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) and politicising other institutions with electoral responsibilities such as law enforcement agencies, local administration, judiciary, etc. aiming to manipulate election results.

The democracy-loving people of Bangladesh, where elections are festivals, are waiting to exercise their franchise in the 13th parliamentary elections. However, to ensure requisite institutional conditions for holding the next elections, the interim government needs ample time to rebuild Bangladesh's electoral institutions. The interim government and the new election commission, which is expected to be formed soon, must address the following key immediate issues not only to guide Bangladesh towards conducting genuine democratic elections but also to render the commission a professional citizens' organisation.

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The AL cannot validate this farce of an election with intimidation

First, the country needs an independent election commission (EC) free from political intervention. The first and foremost step towards an independent EC is the recruitment of credible and non-partisan authorities with a demonstrated commitment to democracy and accountability to citizens. However, the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Appointment Act, 2022 is incomplete, as it lacks recruitment criteria for commissioners, excludes citizen scrutiny, and does not ensure transparency. Moreover, the loopholes around this law allow the ruling class to easily recruit loyal people as election commissioners. Therefore, the interim government should engage an expert pool to review and propose amendments to the law to ensure it is comprehensive, adheres to international best practices, and ensures the recruitment of commissioners capable of neutrally performing their functions.

Second, no EC around the world can conduct credible elections alone. They need support from various institutions, including the police and civil service. During elections, the EC should emerge as the de facto government authority on election administration, assuming total control over police and bureaucracy, and cutting its link with the political government completely. Political neutrality of electoral institutions is paramount. However, due to blatant politicisation of state institutions, some police personnel in particular played a blatant role in ensuring victory of ruling party candidates, including widespread ballot stuffing in multiple elections held under a political government. In order to neutralise temporary poll officials, including police, the IG should amend the Election Officers (Special Regulations) Act, 1991 so that no temporary poll officials, including returning officers and police, can play a biased role in any future elections.

Third, the EC should become a citizens' organisation. In genuine democratic elections, citizens are "the ultimate controlling power." Therefore, EC-decision making must be based on citizens' voices to make the EC "of the people, by the people and for the people." The new EC should conduct its work transparently, including adopting a transparency guideline so that Bangladesh can benefit from an EC that is fully accountable to citizens.

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Bangladesh's election formality is over. What’s next?

Fourth, an election cannot be termed as credible if opposition parties do not participate and if there is a lack of qualified candidates running for office. The UN declared that "political contestants (parties, candidates and supporters of positions on referenda) have vested interests in the electoral process through their rights to be elected and to participate directly in government." In Bangladesh, there are allegations that some qualified political parties were denied registration with the EC, while parties that did not meet the registration criteria were enlisted. Lack of participation of all qualified political parties raises questions about the credibility of elections. Therefore, both the IG and the EC, before the next election should create equal opportunity for all political parties to participate in elections. 

Fifth, election observation in Bangladesh has never been professionalised due to official and unofficial political intervention of the ruling party and EC restrictions. While election observers are a key electoral stakeholder, the EC never established professional relationships with observer organisations. Instead, many credible observers were labelled as "politically biased" when they published credible election observation reports. 

There are many examples of political, election-time governments thwarting effective election monitoring by pressuring election observers in multiple ways. Practices that negatively impacted past observations efforts include NGO Affairs Bureau cancelling previously approved funds for observing organisations to prevent them from carrying out their mandates; intelligence agencies subjecting election observers to intense scrutiny, which discouraged observers from conducting election monitoring; BEC issuing credentials during the night preceding election day, preventing observers from traveling to their desired constituency, and restricting observers' movement.

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How do we describe the upcoming election?

Due to such barriers, most credible organisations stopped observing elections in Bangladesh. The IG and the BEC should develop a strategy not only to professionalise election observation but also to build a culture of accrediting credible election observation organisations as an integral part of elections. 

Elections are of paramount importance to a country's quality of democratic governance. They are the means through which people voice their preferences and choose their representatives. I strongly believe the presence of an interim government creates an opportunity to bring elections back to the citizens of Bangladesh, including establishing a sustainable electoral mechanism which no longer change the rules of the game to engineer electoral outcomes.

Dr Md Abdul Alim is an elections specialist, currently working as principal director with Democracy International, and previously served as director of the Election Working Group.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

Follow The Daily Star Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions, commentaries and analyses by experts and professionals. To contribute your article or letter to The Daily Star Opinion, see our guidelines for submission.

Photo: Anvil Chakma, Amran Hossain, Orchid Chakma, Sk Enamul Haq

A voter who had his national ID card talks to the presiding officer of Viqarunnisa Noon School & College polling centre yesterday after being told he was not a voter of that centre. The man despite being a local was denied at two polling centres. He eventually left without casting his vote.

A woman shows her smart national ID card at Shishubagh School polling centre in Narayanganj. 4. Voters asking a party activist for their serial numbers at Khilgaon Model College centre in Dhaka.

Voters asking a party activist for their serial numbers at Khilgaon Model College centre in Dhaka.

Alleged ruling party men storm a polling booth at the Ideal School and College centre in Motijheel but police eventually drove them away.

Along with his brother and Awami League nominee AK Abdul Momen, Finance Minister AMA Muhith goes to Durghakumar Primary School polling station in Sylhet city to vote.

Oikyafront candidate for Dhaka-8 Mirza Abbas having his blood pressure checked at his Shahjahanpur home yesterday.

From what is unfolding before us, it seems we are set to be in a situation that can be described as "the rule of the AL, for the AL and by the AL." Campaigning has started, there are random processions on the main streets, a little boat is making the rounds and blaring cacophonous film songs on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, poster printers are relieved that they will not have to fold the business thanks to the dum…, oh sorry, "independent candidates," 27 registered parties are participating—doesn't matter if nobody has ever heard of most of them—and relatives of aspirants are rushing to the constituencies to liven up the campaign partying. No doubt, in the days to follow, the festivities will be accentuated with mammoth mejbaan (feasts) and huge gatherings. These also coincide with pitha season; nothing could be sweeter.

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Elections without choice: A leaf out of autocrats’ playbook

That the police have earmarked certain polling centres to be troublesome and may beef up security, and that even the armed forces will be deployed, give an added veneer of authenticity to the whole affair. What's an election without a few violent clashes between rival candidates and their minions, even if they both belong to the same side of the game?

The stage may look and even feel like that put up for a real election. Yet, somehow, the smell of something rotting just underneath won't go away.

That the police have earmarked certain polling centres to be troublesome and may beef up security, and that even the armed forces will be deployed, give an added veneer of authenticity to the whole affair. What's an election without a few violent clashes between rival candidates and their minions, even if they both belong to the same side of the game?

By eliminating any dialogue with the only real opposition party, BNP, the situation can only be compared to a fixed game—with many being reluctant to go all the way to the stadium. Already, at least 1,000 BNP leaders and activists have reportedly been jailed since August in an unprecedentedly speedy series of trials. The remaining leaders are on the run with some of their family members being detained by the police after not finding the accused individual. Perhaps the most jarring example of clamping down on the opposition was the arrests of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and the party's standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury in a case over assaulting a policeman on October 28. Fakhrul has been denied bail three times so far. Before this, BNP's staunch refusal to join the election under the present government, and the ruling party's determination to do just that, ensured that there was little ground for a dialogue that could lead to a solution.

Despite all the wheeling and dealing, the EC's apparent sternness about electoral code and all the meticulous event planning, the brewing resentment of the public cannot be wished away. People are suffering—the long lines at the TCB (Trading Corporation of Bangladesh) trucks and the desperate look of the regular bazaar goer are dead giveaways. Small businesses dependent on imported goods are floundering under the dollar crisis, having failed to open Letters of Credit at the banks. The families of opposition leaders and activists are under tremendous pressure, psychologically and financially, having to fight the multiple cases filed against their loved ones. And let's not forget the forgotten: those who continue to languish in jail under the former Digital Security Act and other draconian laws for the crime of expressing dissent, and also those who have been disappeared without a trace.

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Crackdown, groupthink, and the dialogue that didn’t happen

There is also the inconvenience of an already severely stressed economy, which will continue to be in crisis mode, under myriad pressures. Due dates of foreign debt payments, a bleeding financial sector riddled by scams, thousands of crores in defaulted loans, private and government banks struggling with liquidity, low remittances, unhappy garment workers—the list is painfully and overwhelmingly long.

Despite all this, we may apparently see respectable turnouts at the polls. AL-nominated and AL independent candidates (there are 382 of the latter, contesting 221 seats) will have enough AL supporters to represent a decent percentage. Even Jatiya Party will attract its own followers, especially if given a clear field. The obscure parties fighting for the "eagle" or "truck" signs will at least get a few of their family members to vote for them. "A participatory, free, and fair election," the EC will gleefully announce.

But while everything on the surface has been fixed and made sparkly, putrid bubbles are brewing under the surface; not likely to be contained at any time. Will the predictable victors be ready to face the blow-up?

Aasha Mehreen Amin is joint editor at The Daily Star.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

Follow The Daily Star Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions, commentaries and analyses by experts and professionals. To contribute your article or letter to The Daily Star Opinion, see our guidelines for submission.