THE fact that none of 11 parties participating in the January 5 election has published its election manifesto speaks volumes about the real effectiveness of this election. They will no doubt make one available soon enough, but not having done so yet is a clear acknowledgement that the polls will be meaningless and a non-event, and thus preparing a manifesto and making that public in time will be an exercise in futility.
It is worthwhile to note, however, that the party which has bulldosed an election oblivious to its participatory nature just to what it enthusiastically says conform to the constitution has itself failed to provide a manifesto. A party manifesto is formulated and made public by way of seeking a popular mandate on its contents. A manifesto provides a vehicle for evaluating a party's performance in power
vis-à-vis its pledges and commitments contained therein.  
The missing manifesto reflects, let's reiterate, a ritualistic approach to election as distinguished from a substantive one. Even so, it devolved on the Awami League as the principal participant in the election to come out with a manifesto to elucidate what the party aims for by way of giving a positive directional thrust to governance, both economic and political.
Having regard to the way things were messed up on the political front, on the caretaker government issue as such, a new direction in matters of enhancing quality of politics to avert violence should be part and parcel of the manifesto of such a major party as the AL.