Triumph of free will
Amid a lot of apprehensions about the fairness of the Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) election, our concerned citizens at home and abroad heaved a sigh of relief that it went very peacefully and people were able to express their free will in a conducive and peaceful atmosphere. The festive mood of the voters was visible and felt even by our compatriots living throughout the world through the courtesy of satellite TV.
Although it was only a city corporation poll with a little more than 4 lac voters, it captivated the attention of the whole nation for the last few weeks as the stakes of this local poll were much larger than its size, due mainly to the presence of a dominant candidate who was not supported by either of the two rival political blocs. It could be termed as a supreme triumph of the free will of the people.
In a piece (DS, October 28) on the NCC poll, I wrote: "They (NCC voters) can prove to themselves and to their fellow citizens in the rest of the land that there exists another choice and that choice exists in the integration of honesty, rectitude and competency. And to the doorstep of the Narayanganj voters that very integration is Dr. Selina Hayat Ivy." It is, indeed, a matter of great satisfaction shared by millions of our compatriots that, as expressed by Dr. Ivy in her moment of historic triumph, "truth and honesty have prevailed" through the verdict of people.
In the aftermath of any event of significance, an analysis is due for its direct and indirect stakeholders in order for them to either find solace from the pros or do soul-searching for the cons of their acts of commission or omission. The principal stakeholders of this poll were the people of the city in particular and the country in general, the two rival political camps, the Election Commission (EC) and the media. As indicated earlier, the people of NCC are the principal victors of this election because they exercised their right so judiciously in favour of what is right, instilling hope in the hearts of millions of their fellow citizens. The whole-hearted salutations of the whole nation to them.
Of the two political parties, the ruling AL is the principal loser in the election though the party and the government had everything to gain from the process. The party's first blunder was to endorse the wrong candidate bypassing the well-known and populist frontrunner, a symbol of honesty, integrity and rectitude. The party, in fact, missed a golden opportunity to do at least one right in the midst of many wrongs in recent days. As if that was not enough, the government bungled with the deployment of army at the eleventh hour, creating the possibility of constitutional conflict with the EC and confusing people about its intention to help the EC carry out its constitutional responsibility.
If the government had plans not to deploy army in the first place and instead use the other auxiliary forces, as it did, to create a congenial atmosphere for a free and fair exercise of the franchise, the message should have been conveyed to the EC through proper channel. Had that been the case, the government could have scored extra points by proving to the nation that deployment of army is not an absolute necessity for a fair election when the government's intention is honest.
The BNP, on the other hand, had nothing to gain from a free and fair NCC election. Its candidate, even in a fair election, could vie only for the second place. In fact, non-deployment of army could have had some short-lived political advantage for BNP, which quickly evaporated when the election was billed as the fairest one that the city dwellers have ever seen. The last minute withdrawal of its candidate, albeit from an otherwise non-party exercise, did not make any impact on the minds of the NCC voters, as testified by the statistics that around 70% of the eligible voters exercised their democratic rights.
BNP's persisting allegation about the partisanship of the EC since the general election of 2008 sounds like a broken record and amplifies its absolute political bankruptcy. As usual, BNP always banks on the short-lived memory of our people. In the history of the electoral process of this country, only two CECs had to vacate this constitutional position and both of them, incidentally, were appointed by the BNP-led governments during its two tenures.
The EC, despite all its honesty, failed on the procedural matter. It should have consulted the top level of government about the deployment of the army and should have made the public announcement only after getting the nod of the government. However, in the end, it did an excellent job in carrying out its role to keep the whole process transparent to the public. It really deserves kudos from the nation for a job well done.
And finally, the media in general were very objective in reporting the NCC election scenario and in reflecting the true picture of the election landscape. In the absence of any scientific polls, our media were objective enough to grasp the sentiment of the voters and portrayed it correctly to their readers. Although none of the print media directly endorsed any of the candidates, as the western media do very often, their implicit sentiment was obvious, which, by and large, reflected the wishes of the people. That was subsequently corroborated by the election result.
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