A milestone for democracy

It was my overwhelming assumption from the very beginning (whether she got Awami League support or not) that the independent candidate Dr Selina Hayat Ivy would win the mayoral election race with a big margin. The ruling party directly supported another heavyweight candidate, Shamim Osman, a former MP. Needless to mention that there is no legal provision for political parties to support any candidate in local elections, something that our main political parties decided to ignore completely. It appears that the culture of flouting the rule of law is synonymous with the display of superiority for political entities. The majority of people through the ballot have chosen their leader of choice in the hope that the new leader will keep her promise to the citizens in delivering goods and strengthening the local government. Once again, we were not deprived of the lamenting of the sore loser, a permanent fixture in our politics, whereby the defeated mayoral candidate decried that a section of the local administration and police had deliberately worked against him. And this too coming from the ruling party-backed candidate who once claimed to be able to rally half a million people on 15 minutes' notice! So much for such boisterous claims, for the people exercised their democratic right and chose to elect the candidate of their choice. This certainly is a positive sign for future elections to come. Election commission (EC) has done its job although its request for army for deployment in the election was turned down by the government. The law enforcement agencies like the RAB, police and coast guard performed in an exemplary fashion which will go a long way in soothing nerves and uplifting confidence of the ordinary people that free and fair elections are still possible in Bangladesh. What is heartening to see is that Bangladeshis are now very much cautious about their right of voting. People have proved that they care less for party nomination or black money and more about quality and the image of the right candidate. No doubt this is a milestone of our democracy. A famous saying by former US president Abraham Lincoln about democracy ".of the people, by the people and for the people" seems to have done justice to peoples' mandate in Narayanganj. In this regard, it is the collective hope that the government and the main political parties would not support any candidate in local polls in the future, so that people may choose candidates of their choice without fear and favour, who may play an important role for the local development. Furthermore, the government must strengthen the EC as a constitutional body without which, future larger elections like the general elections to be held in 2014 will remain suspect. Finally, we can only hope and wish that the government should make a mandatory rule about setting a minimum education level for the public representatives, so that the qualified persons may be encouraged to participate in the electoral process that is devoid of black money and physical intimidation. ........................................... The writer can be reached at E-mail: milton_goodluck2000@yahoo.co.in