Need for revamping local government for no-fuss voter list

Dr. Mustafizur Rahman

NATIONAL Constitution mandates the Election Commission to prepare voter list for each constituency.  Voter list means a authentic and verifiable one without any exclusion. As the election commissioners also point out, preparation of national identity (ID) card is not in their mandate or jurisdiction.  In fact, a project for preparing national ID was taken up by the Ministry of Home, which did not materialise.
To avoid recurrence of proxy votes, absentee votes by pre-registered fake voters or dummy voters, or multiple-registered voters, the idea of voter list with photographs has now been well accepted.  For possible pre-emption of ballot box stuffing, the idea of transparent ballot box is being explored.  To eliminate chances of wrong or fabricated election result declaration by election officials, the idea of declaration of results at every voting center is going to be adopted.  To avoid intimidation of voters, the election code of conduct is being reviewed and the method of protection of voters is being devised. The Representation of People Order (RPO) 1972 is being amended to effectively curb indiscipline in, and disruption to, election atmosphere.
The Election Commission is also given the mandate for delimitation of constituencies so that all votes carry acceptably uniform weight in each constituency. Election is not a new exercise for Bangladesh.  People know very well the importance, purpose and their right to vote.  Problems have been the lack of up-keeping, misuse or abuse of public trust by the people in the administration entrusted with the election process.
The present fuss about voter list may remind any informed person of re-inventing wheels in this 21st century.  Voter list with photograph just adds one item of biometrics.  Digital camera makes it a very simple exercise.  Even when digital camera was not available, and personal computer was not in general use, correct voter list and national ID had been prepared manually in many countries, especially where local government system prevailed, family registration system was practised and individual citizen registration was in vogue.  If we speak of a nation, its every national must be identifiable by a unique citizen number.  The issue is appearing big, just because we are going to start a system for the first time without properly set institutions.  We will have to do it and we will have to set effective institutions in place. The question of preparing voter list by visiting door to door or commanding the eligible voters to camps for photographs is coming up as another ad hoc measure again. 
We have "Para", Village, Union, Upazila, Zila, Ward, Municipality, Town, and City Corporations to which people belong.  Union Parishad, Upazila Parishad and Zila Parishad have or are supposed to have elected local public representatives.  If the local government system is made strictly non-party based, they can guarantee authenticity of documents related to any citizen or voter. Even these days, most city dwellers have their origin or link in the rural areas, though it may gradually change over coming decades. There must be  maintained records of permanent and present addresses of all citizens. One way is to register all at their permanent addresses and transfer the registration to present address at the written request of the person concerned.  Registration system may require that any change of residence should be reported to the local office concerned so that official documents are transferred internally as a matter of routine within the scope of official duty.
The citizen registration may be recorded at the Union or Upazila level. All members of the family living in Bangladesh or abroad (as Bangladeshi citizens)  will be registered with permissible and required information, including photograph, without causing infringement on privacy protected by the Constitution or any law. No information will be recorded without the knowledge of the person concerned. The protection of private information may be regulated by law as in most countries. All births and deaths must be registered within, say 30 to 90 days. This record is not the record of the Election Commission. The Election Commission will ask the local government authorities through the competent ministry to furnish the list with photographs or other permissible biometrics of those above certain age as of certain date to prepare voter list. The Election Commission will prepare relevant voter list for any national or local election, and check its authenticity for each constituency, and correct the discrepancies, if any, with intimation to the local government office concerned.
Based on local government bodies' citizen registration record, plastic or other smart or IC multi-functional cards may be issued, not necessarily immediately. A copy of the relevant part of the voter list with photograph may be sent by the EC to each voter by post or other means which may serve as voter ID for the time being. This  should be an important part of EC's entrusted service.
The EC is, it seems, inclined to think that it is authorised to command the citizens to go here and there for photograph or registration. It wishes to suggest a fine or imprisonment for not encouraging a voter for registration. A qualified citizen may be too old to move or may not feel like taking the trouble. Some ladies may not like to be photographed, or cannot go out for such purpose. It is the duty of the EC to serve the people for the purpose. The EC is basically a service institution. It must first be oriented for providing service to the free citizens of a free nation.
Once the system of citizen registration is functional in five to ten years, it will become regular work for the local government to maintain record for proving various services to the citizens such as old age pension, health insurance, child healthcare, schooling, training, employment orientation, education, re-education service, etc.
As the system is not yet in place, the service of the armed forces and volunteers may be effective and necessary to see the system operational in a year or two, though it may take decades for the system to mature. This time the process may need new equipment and extra manpower, but future voter list preparation will not involve any significant cost. The major cost is borne by the local government and it must given sufficient fund and logistics at the initial period.
Many may rightly think that the local government institutions we have or are thinking of, may not deliver the result. The local government, rather a non-party local government system must be established in this opportune period.
For a healthy political system, people must have wide choice to elect their representatives from. Money will not prevent any capable person willing to serve the cause of the people and the state from contesting,  if election campaign process is rational and  election campaign cost can be brought down to equivalent of, say, ten months' remuneration. State may reimburse the election cost up to, say, Taka 0.3 million (3.0 lakh) per constituency in proportion to votes earned by the contesting candidates. This payment may continue every year until the end of the term of the parliament.
It is difficult to think of political activities without political party which, however, must be registered juridical entity with its own democratic constitution, satisfying set conditions, and registered with the EC for election purpose. It must account for its earnings and expenses under certain restrictions on fund raising. Students or any other professional societies may be barred from using  their position for politics of any political party. Political parties will not violate other's rights and will not call Hartal or disturb public peace. The parliament membership is supposed to be a full-time position. All candidates must relinquish their office of profit, if any, including any remunerating public or private position. The author has already some publications on the subject and improved RPO 1972.
The EC suggestion for inclusion of 33 per cent women executive members in the party may not merit any consideration in that we must not discriminate and deny equal right of man and woman. Ability will determine their position. Party formation or registration and participation in election cannot be arbitrarily restricted for offering wider choice to the voters except when conflict of interest may arise.
The EC, with the help of law enforcement and administrative agencies will conduct election in peaceful atmosphere, but it may not be given disproportionate power. An Election Review Board may be established with judicial power to expeditiously dispose of election law violation cases and cancel or reverse election result for gross violation of election law.
Having done every thing necessary for fair election, is there any guarantee that a government to serve the people will be in charge? The Constitution has in-built scope for the government to give damn to the people, silence the party members, harass the adversary and turn the parliament dysfunctional. The Article 70, restriction on inclusion of non-member ministers to one-tenth of the size of the cabinet, absence of limit to the number of ministers and ministries, non-restriction on wasteful external borrowing, absence of binding on protection of national and people's interest, restriction on removal of public servants for inefficiency or remiss in service to the people and the state, absence of clear punishment or compulsion of step-down for incapability to implement constitutional imperatives and, among others, absence of any watchdog to monitor the performance of the government in respect of protection of national security of various nature are matters of consequence here. Unless the Constitution is recast to eliminate all weakness in management of the affairs of the state with people's interest at the top, our future may again be hostage at the hands of another group quite soon. The author published a number of papers on constitutional amendments to safeguard national interest for rapid development in peace. Introduction of a Provision on People's Right of Enactment on Direct Initiative may provide the people an alternative way of reaction to government misdeed without Hartal.  As readers may well understand, it is not elaborated here.
From discussion with the EC, it is evident that restructuring of local self-government bodies is not within its mandate, though it showed its support in principle. It was not optimistic about public fund allocation for election campaign facilitation, or reimbursement of cost to the candidates in proportion to votes earned.  We must understand that the merit will outweigh the small cost in eliminating present and future money politics before the trend can be firmly rooted for escalation with the growth of economy.
For desired long-term development, we need systemic overhaul. We must have courage to say that the administrative system that dragged us backward and kept us that way supportive of last 36 years is not for development as a free nation. We have to select and revamp our policy instruments to guide us to our cherished goal in this unevenly competitive world. This is the time for us to get together to launch our systemic reform for development initiatives. We need fresh idea about industrial, educational, economic, fiscal and monetary policy, we need austerity for some time, and we need the overhaul of the legal system. The advisory council and the president backed by the armed forces can go into the depth of the problems to solve them with national vision and courage. This writer is confident that all sensible and patriotic people will look forward to it with great hope.
The views expressed here by the writer who is chairman, Institute of Development Strategy (IDS), Dhaka, are of his own, and not necessarily of the organisation he represents. He can be reached at e-mail: [email protected]