Readers Respond
Here are some comments that came in response to Sunday's The Daily Star news article headlined “EC proven weak”.
Anonymous Expat
The Election Commission is not weak but it has been kept weak by the overpowering AL government. It has not been fully independent and government interference is too much. Without assisting the EC, as per the constitution, the government is in fact violating the constitution to get its desired objective. Nasirullah Mridha
How does the EC expect the national polls to be held under their auspices? It has been proven again that the government never wants to see an independent EC who could conduct election on its own. BNP's demand to abolish incumbent EC seems to have a a point of as the government has left it high and dry. Chanchal
The decision of government about Narayanganj is not wise at all! Is it true that they want a strong election commission? If their answer is yes, then why are they neglecting the requirements of EC concerning army deployment? Then what about the constitution, rules? Dr Islam
We, the common citizens of the country are not at all surprised by the government's refusal of EC request to employ army in NCC election. We are more interested to see government's behavior than the election results itself in this poll. Free and fair election is the rarest thing we can expect from either of our main parties. They know that in the absence of army, manipulation will be easier and to achieve this goal they don't care about constitutional obligations. QK
It's a pity that the current government is following the footsteps of its predecessor and giving the opposition an opportunity to boycott the elections by not deploying army. But given the current confrontational nature of politics in our country, the opposition would have boycotted the election whether it's on the excuse of EVM or not deploying army. Anonymous
It does not matter if BNP say they withdrew since official campaigning ended yesterday. How much vote they receive is not affected by the fact that they announced that they withdrew. BNP is within their rights to reject the vote count and the election ...But by campaigning till the end of the full campaign time, they have signaled their intention. This last minute decision makes us wonder if they are boycotting simply because they had little chance of winning. Slings & Arrows
The government by ignoring the EC's request to deploy the army in the NCC polls did not seem to have gone against its so-called political stand but actually it violated its constitutional obligation to assist the EC in keeping with the wish of its candidate Osman who the government wants to win through manipulation. Anonymous
Is there any more doubt about the ill motives of the AL government in the upcoming national elections? Narayanganj is the glaring example where the EC was paralyzed by the whimsical decision of the authoritarian regime not to allow the deployment of Army. The CEC and its staff should resign. Even if they will be neutral, the doubts created in the voters' mind will never allow a favorable judgement on the CEC. Kaya
Election commission during an election time holds supreme power. We all know that and it is a norm. Army was not deployed according to the EC's wish which will raise question in the people's mind about the authority of our EC. It will send wrong message to the voters who are already petrified by Osman's tyranny and no doubt it will influence the outcome of today's vote in Narayanganj.
The Election Commission is not weak but it has been kept weak by the overpowering AL government. It has not been fully independent and government interference is too much. Without assisting the EC, as per the constitution, the government is in fact violating the constitution to get its desired objective. Nasirullah Mridha
How does the EC expect the national polls to be held under their auspices? It has been proven again that the government never wants to see an independent EC who could conduct election on its own. BNP's demand to abolish incumbent EC seems to have a a point of as the government has left it high and dry. Chanchal
The decision of government about Narayanganj is not wise at all! Is it true that they want a strong election commission? If their answer is yes, then why are they neglecting the requirements of EC concerning army deployment? Then what about the constitution, rules? Dr Islam
We, the common citizens of the country are not at all surprised by the government's refusal of EC request to employ army in NCC election. We are more interested to see government's behavior than the election results itself in this poll. Free and fair election is the rarest thing we can expect from either of our main parties. They know that in the absence of army, manipulation will be easier and to achieve this goal they don't care about constitutional obligations. QK
It's a pity that the current government is following the footsteps of its predecessor and giving the opposition an opportunity to boycott the elections by not deploying army. But given the current confrontational nature of politics in our country, the opposition would have boycotted the election whether it's on the excuse of EVM or not deploying army. Anonymous
It does not matter if BNP say they withdrew since official campaigning ended yesterday. How much vote they receive is not affected by the fact that they announced that they withdrew. BNP is within their rights to reject the vote count and the election ...But by campaigning till the end of the full campaign time, they have signaled their intention. This last minute decision makes us wonder if they are boycotting simply because they had little chance of winning. Slings & Arrows
The government by ignoring the EC's request to deploy the army in the NCC polls did not seem to have gone against its so-called political stand but actually it violated its constitutional obligation to assist the EC in keeping with the wish of its candidate Osman who the government wants to win through manipulation. Anonymous
Is there any more doubt about the ill motives of the AL government in the upcoming national elections? Narayanganj is the glaring example where the EC was paralyzed by the whimsical decision of the authoritarian regime not to allow the deployment of Army. The CEC and its staff should resign. Even if they will be neutral, the doubts created in the voters' mind will never allow a favorable judgement on the CEC. Kaya
Election commission during an election time holds supreme power. We all know that and it is a norm. Army was not deployed according to the EC's wish which will raise question in the people's mind about the authority of our EC. It will send wrong message to the voters who are already petrified by Osman's tyranny and no doubt it will influence the outcome of today's vote in Narayanganj.
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