N’ganj shows polls can be fair
The recent Narayanganj city polls showed that a free, fair, and peaceful election is possible if the government and administration do not interfere, academics and election experts said.
Speaking at a webinar yesterday, they also stressed the need to ensure devolution of power to local government so that they can play a more impactful role in providing services.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the webinar on NCC polls held on January 16.
Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary of Shusashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan), said the NCC election was "unique".
"We can learn a lot from the election. If the government and the Election Commission are willing and the candidates are not corrupt, a free and fair election can take place."
The polls also showed that the authorities concerned should be more careful about EVM use in national elections, he said.
It further revealed that many people still have doubts about EVM as it does not have the voter verifiable paper audit trail mechanism (which allows voters to verify that their votes are cast). Besides, the machine cannot read all voters' fingerprints, Badiul said.
Former election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain said another important lesson from the NCC election is the peaceful coexistence of candidates.
"But the questions of whether the situation will be the same in other elections…Jatiya Sangsad and local government elections are not similar," he added.
CPD Chairman Professor Rehman Sobhan emphasised on devolution of power to local government.
He asked Planning Minister MA Mannan why the devolution of power to local government was not happening although it has been discussed over the years.
Rehman also questioned why city mayors were not being given more power to run their corporations as mentioned by Narayanganj mayor-elect Selina Hayat Ivy.
Mannan in reply said, "Devolution of power to local government cannot be achieved only by issuing an order. To make it happen, we need evolution and practice."
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