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Abu Hena against judges' election duties
Moudud opposes Article 70, provision for by-polls

Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Mohammad Abu Hena has supported some of the recent reforms in the country's electoral laws but opposed some others, including the Election Commission's authority to cancel a candidate's nomination or election.

"Hurried justice is no justice," he said referring to the new provision that the EC might cancel one's nomination or election on the basis of complaint received from any source.

He also disagreed with some suggestions made by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in its pre-election policy brief on electoral laws.

Speaking at a working session of the "Election 2001: National Policy Forum" at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city yesterday, Hena supported the provision for registration of the political parties with the EC. The former CEC reminded that he proposed for making the registration mandatory during his tenure.

CPD Chairman Prof Rehman Sobhan Chaired the session with Prof. Khan Sarwar Murshid and former Foreign Secretary Abul Ahsan as Co-Chairmen. Manzur Hasan of Transparency International,Bangladesh and Feroz Hasan of FEMA jointly presented the CPD task force report on governance.

He hoped that disposal of electoral disputes would be quicker by the High Court than the election tribunals. Until December last year, 18 of the disputes in the 1996 general election remained unresolved, he said.

Hena contradicted the CPD suggestion for raising the number of election commissioners to seven. He was also critical of the existing composition of the EC, a four-member body headed by the CEC. "I am for an odd number and the number should be three. An even number brings the question of extra power of the Chief," he said adding that all the members were equal as far as their works are concerned though the Chief had a higher status.

The former CEC also opposed the CPD recommendation for appointing the judges as returning officers because holding an election is basically a managerial job, better done by the administrators. "The judges should not be assigned with election duties for the sake keeping them above all controversies."

Recalling his long experience as a seasoned bureaucrat, Hena said all the governments tried to push their personal or party agenda through the administration.

Taking part in the discussion, BNP leader Moudud Ahmed said a credible government elected through a reasonably fair election should bring in administrative reforms aimed at good governance in the country.

"Money and muscle still pose major threats to a free and fair

The BNP leader said the caretaker government has taken commendable steps to hold a free, fair and peaceful general election. He viewed that recovery of all illegal arms might be a difficult task but all known terrorists should be arrested to make the poll peaceful.

Moudud said accountability of the fifth and seventh parliaments could not be established due to a long boycott by the major opposition political parties. "Unfortunately, we have failed to establish a bipartisan rule," he said adding that the ruling party's duty is to keep the opposition in the House and not to drive them away.

The noted lawyer felt that Article 70 of the constitution should either go or be amended because it restricts a Member of Parliament to express his/her view even on a controversial issue.

He also opposed the provision for by-election to vacant seats as such polls often create political crisis and involve extra expenditure.

Justice KM Subhan alleged that the present non-party caretaker government has failed to act neutrally as desired by the people. "The caretaker government is not the answer to a free and fair election. The concept of caretaker administration does not go with the spirit of democracy."

Referring to the recently introduced provision for registration of political parties with the Election Commission, Subhan suggested that the EC not register a political party that does not believe in the country's independence. He also proposed that a party should be allowed to contest election only if it enjoys a certain percentage of votes and opposed the new legal provision that the High Court, instead of the election tribunals, will settle election disputes.

"Sixty per cent of the High Court judges are not conversant with the electoral process and the procedure of disposing election disputes will be further delayed with the High Court."