National Identity Cards, E-voting and Electoral Verdict

The use of two tools -- national identity cards (NIDs) and electronic voting machines (EVM) -- can prove to be extremely helpful in making the country's electoral process transparent and, thus, less controversial.

http://sunehra.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/glamorous-dhaka/

The last military-backed caretaker government had, rightly, attached top priority to the introduction of NIDs for the purpose of voting in the last general election. With utmost efficiency, the members of the armed forces with the help of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) prepared new voters' lists and NIDs in a record time. But the NIDs was not required to be used during the voting held in 2008, for reasons not explained well by the EC. However, the voters list, prepared afresh by the last caretaker govt. was the basis for the polls then.

It would be proper to use the NIDs in the next local level and general elections, along with lists of voters carrying photographs. This would help check fake voting.

Under the country's given political culture, the Election Commission (EC) that plays the most important part in both local level and general elections, can establish its independent character if it goes all the way to enforce the compulsory use of both NIDs and EVMs for the purpose of polling.

On many occasions in the past, the Commission was considered to have succumbed to pressures and frequently changed its decisions, thus, raising questions about its independence.

The country has enough of institutions meant for running the administration efficiently, holding free and fair elections and ensuring peace and safety of the citizens. But, unfortunately, the institutions have not been functioning up to the desired level because of their internal problems and frequent outside interference.

Unless anything happens otherwise, the next general election will be held in the first half of the year 2014. And if the political parties stick to their past tradition, it is most likely the vanquished would again point its accusing finger at the Election Commission (EC) for being a party to 'massive' vote fraud.

Results of elections, be those held under political governments or caretakers, have never been accepted gracefully in this country. Since the restoration of parliamentary system of governance in 1991, the two bitter political foes -- the Bangladesh Awami League (AL) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) -- alleged rigging of polls after their respective failure to capture the state power through ballots.

Even the caretaker governments constituted with non-partisan eminent citizens could not escape the wrath of the parties defeated in polls. They were accused of siding with one party or another.

When the provision for caretaker government was incorporated in the country's Constitution in 1996 in the face of massive agitation spearheaded by the AL, most people thought that the transfer of power would be peaceful with none raising questions about the fairness of the polls. But it did not take too long a time to get their hopes dashed. Questions about the fairness of every general election held since then had been galore.

In fact, political culture and independence of the EC matter most in ensuring clean election. Two main political parties in Bangladesh even in normal times remain charged up and most of their leaders and workers are not ready to accommodate the views of their opposition. The rivalry, marked by extreme intolerance, reaches its peak during elections, national or otherwise.

Despite all the questions raised about its neutrality in the post-election periods, the holding of elections under a caretaker government is still largely considered to be the available best option under the present-day political scenario in Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the issue of electronic voting (e-voting) has, of late, caught the attention of the EC. The Commission has successfully carried out a test run of the modern system of voting at the polling centres of a selected ward during the Chittagong City Corporation polls, held last year.

The voters of that ward, while talking to the media, had expressed their satisfaction over the e-voting, which, according to them, was easy and hassle-free. The e-voting, though not entirely fault-free, is far better than the manual voting. The system helps the election officials to announce the results within a short time since the voting is recorded electronically. More than 60 countries have introduced the e-voting replacing the old system of voting.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has also shown her interest, on a couple of occasions, in introducing the e-voting in next general election.

However, getting the system in use during the next election would entail spending a lot of money and putting substantial efforts on the part of the EC.

If the EC is serious about introducing the e-voting in the next general election, it should take up a project immediately and ask for funds from the government. The import of EVM would not be necessary since the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) is capable of producing the same at a very reasonable cost.

The credibility of the electoral process in Bangladesh has never been beyond question, in one way or other, or by one party or other. Such controversies surrounding elections are nothing but usual. Even the developed countries are not totally immune to those. It is not denying that Bangladesh is far better place than the African state of Ivory Coast where, at the moment, there exists two heads of state; the incumbent president and his opponent are sticking to their guns claiming victory over each other in the recently held presidential elections.

Yet it is important to initiate all possible attempts to make the elections less controversial, which might help in the restoration of a relatively better political climate in the country.

Furthermore, the use of the NIDs should be enforced gradually for the purpose of improving the quality of governance. Despite all criticism of the last army-backed caretaker government, it did a commendable job in completing the preparation of the NIDs throughout the country. It was done with the intention of facilitating the use of NIDs for multi-purposes -- from getting passports to opening bank accounts, registration of transfer deeds and what not. For that matter, the NIDs do need to be updated periodically.

But the latest signal from the authorities concerned, particularly the EC which is primarily responsible for handling the matters relating to issuing, updating and maintaining the records, of NIDs and dealing with cases of fake or forged NIDs, does not demonstrate a pro-active or positive stance on the use of the NIDs. Do the authorities concerned want to make NIDs irrelevant to the purposes for which the same were prepared, involving a great deal of public money, time and energy?


(THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS)