Chittagong election
Photo: Jashim Salam / Driknews
The city election of Chittagong was held by and large peacefully. I find the efforts of the EC to deliver a free and fair poll have been appreciated. There was also the contrary view and criticism that the EC has robbed this democratic exercise of franchise with the citizens' committee, stripping the festival of democracy of its vibrancy, Does the Commission deserve this reprobation? I am afraid not. So a stringent law is enacted perhaps with full knowledge that like others this would fall by the wayside at the time of implementation. This syndrome is aptly called the 'culture of impunity.' No wonder, there is consternation, a cry of anguish, and an accusation of throttling of democracy, as the stringency of the law hits home only when the EC asks for and monitors its implementation without exception! Has the strict implementation reduced the cost of contesting an election? To those parties it may surprise many to be told that there are still some in our country who believe in not violating the law relating to the ceiling on expenditure, the steps taken by the EC are welcome. For those parties and candidates who do not have the money power to undertake a campaign that can match their opponents poster-to-poster, banner-to-banner, vehicle-to-vehicle and meeting-to-meeting, the strict implementation is welcome. Big spending in elections by parties and candidates is a manifestation of the festering disease of corruption and concealment of income leading to the generation of black money. If a candidate is willing to spend ten times more than the prescribed ceiling, it is not out of philanthropy but in the secure knowledge that he can earn ten times what he spends once he gets to the seat of power. Nothing can be more naïve than the thinking that the ban on flags and buntings has pushed up the expenditure levels higher. It can be nobody's case that in the days of yore, of flags and buntings, the limit on election expenditure was not crossed. The only difference now is that the number of people who have 'earned' huge piles of cash has gone up considerably, thanks to the real estate boom, the mining boom, and whatever other booms we have had, and that money has raised the bar for the spending and made the envelopes pushed under the door fatter and fatter. If it was muscle power that was employed in the commercial capital, it is money power now in the richer regions. If however there is concern over the danger posed by the growing power of money in politics and in elections, if we do not want our democracy to be hijacked by the demon of unaccounted wealth earned in unscrupulous ways and spent to grab the levers of power, let us sit up and take notice before it is too late.
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