The voice for inclusive polls falls silent

Mahbub Talukdar, who, as an election commissioner, raised a lone voice against the ills within the election commission till his retirement, died at a city hospital yesterday.

He was 80, and left behind his wife and three children.

As an election commissioner, he was outspoken and would often publicly criticise some of the commission's decisions.

He was known to have walked out of commission meetings and issued notes of dissent, and all with an aim to make the country's elections fairer.

Along with his exemplary grit, Mahbub, a freedom fighter, will also be remembered for his literary work.

A poet and writer, he had the ability to leave his readers spellbound and was even a recipient of the prestigious Bangla Academy Literary Award for his contribution to children's literature.

The former bureaucrat had been suffering from prostate cancer for several years.

His daughter Irin Mahbub said her father was taken to United Hospital after his oxygen levels dropped.

Doctors said he suffered a massive cardiac arrest and died around 1:30pm.

Irin added that Mahbub's body will be kept at the BIRDEM hospital mortuary, and decisions regarding his namaz-e-janaza and burial will be taken after his son and other daughter reach Dhaka from abroad.

KM Nurul Huda, former chief election commissioner, visited United Hospital yesterday to express his sorrow for the bereaved family.

Separate condolence statements were issued by the Election Commission, the  Communist Party of Bangladesh, and Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik.

In February 2017, Mahbub was appointed a commissioner in the Nurul Huda-led EC. His tenure lasted five years.

Throughout his time as a commissioner, he was known to hold media briefings to criticise the EC decisions that he thought were detrimental to the progress of the country's democracy. Several media reports had even said he would quit the commission.

To those, he said: "I will fight for fair elections till the end of my tenure."

Mahbub, being the rebel he was, even walked out of a commission meeting in August 2018, opposing the EC move to use Electronic Voting Machine in the December 2018 parliamentary polls.

He said it would not be right to use EVMs as most political parties were against it.

On at least three occasions, Mahbub issued notes of dissent at commission meetings, opposing MPs engaging in electioneering during a city corporation polls. He walked out of those meetings as well.

As a commissioner, he would always be vocal in his criticism of polls irregularities. During his tenure, he pressed for reforms in the election system.

On several occasions, he and Nurul Huda publicly differed on different issues. 

Ahead of the 2018 parliamentary polls, which was highly criticised for "ballot stuffing the night before the voting day", the two engaged in a debate over ensuring a level-playing field in the national election.

On December 17 that year, Mahbub said the "level-playing field" was absent and the term had become meaningless.

Speaking to this paper in February this year, Mahbub said, "The 11th parliamentary election [in 2018] gave us nothing but the shame of failure.

"It was an established truth that ballot stuffing took place the night before voting day."

Before becoming an election commissioner, Mahbub worked as an additional secretary at Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat till 1999 and as the director general of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

He taught Bangla at Chittagong University from 1968-1970.

He joined the Mujibnagar government and also worked with Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra during the Liberation War.

After independence, he served the first four presidents of the country as their public relations officer and speech writer.

He was the assistant press secretary and speech writer for Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

During his days as a student, he worked as a university correspondent of The Daily Ittefaq.

His first novel "Krironok" was published in 1968, while his first poetry book "Janmer Dakhsina" came out in 1973.

His autobiographies titled "Bangabhabane Panch Bachhar",  and "Amlar Amalnama" are two of his most acclaimed works.

He was working on his third – "Nirbachannama".

While speaking to this newspaper, he said, "'Nirbachannama' is on my experience as an election commissioner. I don't think it will be possible to publish this book, which is more than 1,200 pages, before my death."