Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said if he had been made the CEC of New Zealand or Britain, he could have finished the election by sitting on a chair sipping tea.

He said this while inaugurating the voters' list update programme-2022 at Savar in Dhaka today (May 20, 2022), reports our local correspondent.

"I told my colleagues that if I were the Chief Election Commissioner of New Zealand or Britain, I could have finished the election by sitting on a chair and sipping tea," he said.

"In many countries of the world, elections/voting rights are exercised, as you know, and I also know that no violence happened there. Everyone stands in queues and everyone goes and exercises their rights to vote," he added.

"I didn't have any kind of stress, and would not suffer from high blood pressure. But the situation in Bangladesh makes us stressed during the elections. We have to be careful," said the CEC.

"The Election Commission alone can never make an election a success. But here those who are employees of the Republic, such as police administration, and district administration have to play a very important role during the elections," he also said.

"Here, however, we have a big challenge. Exercising the voting right is the big challenge," he said.

"Yesterday I read a report of violence during elections in a newspaper. We want competition and a participatory election. But sometimes violence takes place in the vote. Chase and counter chases happened. A writer said that this is not our election crisis, it is our cultural crisis," he went on saying.

"How our culture has developed that we have to commit occurrence during elections. In many cases, this makes us sad. We need to get out of this exercise and maybe it will take some time," he added.

Md Humayun Kabir Khandker, EC secretary, also spoke at the event and called upon people, local government representatives, and administration to come forward for the cooperation of the staff engaged in the updating process of the voters' list.

On April 23, we ran a report on how 100,500 electronic voting machines (EVMs), out of 150,000 total, worth Tk 3,825 crore, will soon be gutted as they "are no longer usable," according to an Election Commission official. These machines, with an official lifespan of 10 years, were bought in 2018 just before the election that year, at a cost of Tk 2.35 lakh each—11 times more expensive than the EVMs used in India. As guaranteed, the EVMs purchased by Bangladesh should have functioned at least until 2028.

But the EVMs next door have a different story. Right now, India is holding the biggest election ever in the world with 969 million registered voters. The elections began on April 19 and will be held in seven phases over a six-week period and across more than a million polling stations. The result will be announced on June 4. All of the nearly a billion voters will cast their ballots using the 5.5 million EVMs that are being used throughout this massive country.

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EVM neglect is EC's failure

So what explains the dramatically opposite trajectories in the use of EVMs between the two neighbouring countries? India, after achieving political consensus on the use of EVMs in 1998 and through many years of trial and error, reached 100 percent use of these machines in 2004 in all its constituencies. But why are we dumping our EVMs into the gutter less than six years after their purchase? By doing so, we are setting back—and we don't know for how long—any possibility of using EVMs in future polls, which is essential for the modernisation of our election process.

Why did the EVM experiment in Bangladesh fall on its face?

There is, of course, the overriding political atmosphere of suspicion and hatred, as well as a culture of never accepting what the other side does. But on the technical side, too, there were fundamental flaws in the EVM project formulation, evaluation, and monitoring that have led to the present disaster.

First, let us delve into the issue of why our EVMs should cost 11 times more than those used in India. It was said that ours were of higher technical capability and had features that others didn't. Voters never came to know what those special features were, but did the Election Commission (EC) know? If yes, did they carry out thorough technical evaluation before approving the machines?

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EVMs and a mind-reading election commissioner

One key feature of the Indian EVM is its paper trail, or the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT). So, when a vote is cast, the machine prints out a slip containing the serial number, name, and symbol of the candidate, which is displayed for seven seconds and then automatically drops into a sealed box. This serves as a confirmation to the voter that the machine has correctly registered his/her vote and also acts as a printed record that can be used to verify voting in case there are questions or contestations. The VVPAT feature greatly helped India to gain public confidence in the EVM process, while its absence did the very opposite in our case. Why didn't our EC insist on having this feature?

Moreover, did the EC do its due diligence before accepting the EVMs, especially as it was costing 11 times higher than the comparable Indian ones?

There is also the question whether the EC did enough to gain public trust in EVM use. The prevailing suspicion that EVMs could be manipulated remains deeply etched in the public mind. The EC should have realised that casting a ballot is a precious right and an exercise of power by each voter, which one would be reluctant to relinquish to a machine unless s/he had full faith on its reliability. But did the EC do enough to gain that crucial public confidence? Why weren't more technical teams, IT specialists, and poll experts utilised to engage with general voters and remove the doubts that continue to gnaw at the public mind as to the dependability of these EVMs? There should have been far more public display regarding the workings of these machines as well as open debate about their capabilities.

Without such outreach to gain public confidence, the EC should not have proceeded to buy so many of these machines. There should have been many more pilot projects with smaller numbers of both voters and EVMs, and through such a process a breakthrough could perhaps have been achieved. If Indian voters could have been won over in favour of the EVMs, why not ours, too, where diversity is so much less?

Perhaps the most damaging and utterly absurd aspect of the EC's project was that there was no provision to store these EVMs when not in use. Can there be anything more ridiculous? When the first batch of 25,000 EVMs were delivered in 2018, the question should have immediately occurred to the EC as to where to store them. Without that crucial question being resolved, the EC ordered more of the machines and in the subsequent years—2019 and 2020—the whole lot of 150,000 EVMs were bought. So, to put it bluntly: EVMs were bought at 11 times the price they are next door and then, when not in use, they have literally been thrown into premises—such as schools, colleges and EC upazila offices—that are inadequate to store these technically sophisticated machines. Temperature, dust, and humidity control are the most essential preconditions for EVMs' preservation, and none of this was ensured. All this was done with the full knowledge that these machines would soon become unusable, as they have now become. The crudity of it all boggles the mind.

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How do we get the goons out of the EVM booths?

As a society under law, shouldn't we be able to hold some people responsible for such blatant waste of public money? Is it those who proposed the EVM project, those who evaluated it, or those who approved it? In a sense, all should be responsible. But in fact, nobody is. The way our administrative procedures are formulated prevents clearly identifying who should be held responsible in case of failure. This, coupled with the practice of never holding anyone responsible, has created a culture of spending public money without any regard for accountability. Every year, the media runs hundreds of stories about waste of public money but no accountability comes out of it. The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General publishes hundreds of well-researched reports annually, exposing cases of public money being squandered. But these reports ultimately gather dust. The fact that no official has ever been held responsible or punished—especially the senior ones—has created an environment of endorsing corruption. This also feeds into the present culture of impunity among the rich and powerful.

Shouldn't the EC hold its own investigation as to how the EVM disaster occurred, and what can be done to prevent such a failure in the future. With nearly a billion voters, India has achieved 100 percent usage of EVMs and we, with only 120 million voters, are abandoning it, with all the implications of continuing the controversies of ballot stuffing, midnight voting and the rest. The fiasco with the EVMs has created further doubt in the public mind as to the capabilities of our EC to hold free and fair elections in the near future.

Mahfuz Anam is editor and publisher of 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.

The passing of the Representation of the People Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in parliament is an extremely worrying development. At a time when we are all looking forward to a free and fair election – which is presupposed by the independence of the Election Commission – the passage of the bill, which will reduce the power of the EC to cancel polls, will only dampen the possibility of it being free and fair. On the face of it, the message is obvious: the rule has been passed to restrain the EC.

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Shouldn’t the EC be saying how it will make elections free and fair?

Already as it exists through law and practice, the EC is hamstrung in many ways. For example, even though the law says that during elections, the administration is supposed to work under the EC, this is only on paper; in reality, it does not happen at all. The chief election commissioner himself has spoken about it. And it has been widely reported on and discussed as well. Now, the EC's hands have been further tied legally.

Specifically, there are two aspects in the amendment that are worrying. The first is the curtailment of the EC's power to suspend polls. The law minister has justified the move by saying that suspending polls in an entire constituency over disturbances in some polling stations is "undemocratic." But what happens if irregularities occur in the majority of polling centres? Will the EC have to stamp its approval just because voting could happen without irregularities in some centres? The amendment takes the same problem to the other extreme. Moreover, the law minister's claim seems to give the impression that the EC would just whimsically suspend polls. Surely, under ideal circumstances, the EC would suspend polls only if it deemed it absolutely necessary.

The second issue is the curtailment of the EC's mandate to suspend polls from during the election period – which is typically about 40 days from when the election schedule is announced to the election day – to only on the "polling day." So, from around 40 days, the EC's power to suspend polls has been reduced to only one day and that also only in the troubled centres. But what happens if large-scale irregularities happen before the officially declared election day, which has blatantly taken place before?

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Again, these are clear indications that the bill has been passed to constrain the EC's operating capacity. Given the history of our elections and timidity of ECs and their commissioners, it has made the prospect of free and fair elections further improbable.

We are deeply saddened by the passing of former Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukdar (80). With his death, we have lost one of the most rebellious voices in the history of electoral politics in Bangladesh. A freedom fighter who taught Bangla at Chattogram University before the war, Talukdar joined civil service in 1971, and since then, served in various capacities till his retirement. Perhaps his most remarkable time as a bureaucrat was when he was at the Election Commission (2017-2022), where he emerged as a lone crusader against the ills of our electoral system. He never hesitated to speak up or criticise the commission's own decisions that he believed went against the interests of citizens.

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The voice for inclusive polls falls silent

Mahbub Talukdar will thus be remembered as a fierce advocate for fair and inclusive elections, the importance of ensuring a level playing field for all parties and candidates, and of course, people's right to vote. As a commissioner, he set inspiring examples of righteousness and boldness, sometimes by walking out of EC meetings or issuing notes of dissent, all aimed at making the country's electoral system acceptable to the people. He believed it was the EC's sacred responsibility to organise free and fair elections, saying: "I will fight for fair elections till the end of my tenure." This he did, as faithfully and honestly as possible. One particular aspect of his fight was his position against the use of EVMs without the consent of all parties – something that the present commission can learn from.

He believed it was the EC's sacred responsibility to organise free and fair elections, saying: "I will fight for fair elections till the end of my tenure."

We remember how, in a bid to make city corporation polls fair, he protested against MPs' engagement in electioneering during such polls. He untiringly protested against voter suppression and other electoral irregularities, including ballot-stuffing the night before the controversial 2018 national election, which he said "gave us nothing but the shame of failure." At the same time, he spoke for reforms in the overall electoral system to avoid such interventions. His integrity, honesty and patriotism were unparalleled.

Mahbub Talukdar was also a multi-talented personality. A man with a golden pen, he was a well-known poet, a short story writer and a novelist. He had 44 books to his credit, mainly on poetry and fiction. He received the prestigious Bangla Academy Literary Award for his contribution to children's literature. A family man, he believed in the traditional culture of the land.

But it is his legacy as a revolutionary election commissioner that we cherish the most today. Will we have another one like him, who will defend the interests of citizens with such courage?

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.