According to Article 48 (1) of the Constitution, His Excellency the President is elected by the members of the National Assembly. Under the same provision, members of the parliament shall elect eleven persons in the capacity of a full minister as the members of a government responsible for holding the national elections.
—– A. R. Farrukh Ahamed
What would have happened if the result of the 1970 election were conceded by the then West Pakistan government? In fact, the logical outcome of not respecting the people’s verdict of the 1970 election was a war in 1971 that ultimately resulted in the birth of a new country, Bangladesh. Bangladesh, no doubt, was born through a struggle for democracy. So whoever snatches away our right to democracy, we believe that they are trying to make us subdued as the Pakistan junta did.
In 1990, we were again able to establish our right to vote to elect our government. In 1996, we included the caretaker system in our constitution to make elections free, fair and credible. Three elections held under this system in 1996, 2001 and 2008 were participatory and accepted by almost all (though the election in 2008 was held by design under the quasi-military rule in the guise of the caretaker government, not by default as per the provision of the Constitutional Amendment XIII). But with XV Amendment, the exclusion of the caretaker system led us to the same chaos again. Now the two major political parties are conflicting with each other with their demand to hold elections as they wish. The ordinary people in Bangladesh are helpless to live in peace and harmony with a government of their own let alone their right to vote.
To pass the present political impasse, a ‘polls-time government by all’ needs to be ensured. Since such government should be for all, we have to earn the confidence of all parties to form this government. Three major political parties — the party in power Bangladesh Awami League (AL), the main opposition (though not on paper) Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the official opposition Jatiyo Party (JP) are the main actors in our present politics. We need a government of all to hold an election to be accepted by all.
In this regard, we need to pay heed to the demand of the political parties. The AL said it would not deviate from the constitution even for a single bit and never hand over the power to an unelected government. BNP demanded a nonpartisan, neutral election-time government while JP also for a government which could impartially hold an election. If we keep all their demands in a row, it sums up that we need a government elected constitutionally, impartial and non-biased to any political party. And certainly, we can do that.
According to Article 48 (1) of the Constitution, His Excellency the President is elected by the members of the National Assembly. Under the same provision, members of the parliament shall elect eleven persons in the capacity of a full minister as the members of a government responsible for holding the national elections.
To ensure a fair share of all political stakeholders in this government responsible for holding the national elections, the parliament (now performing) will elect 05 people from AL, 04 people from BNP and 02 people from JP. Awami League-led coalition will submit 10 names as candidates to elect five persons as members of the election-time government. The alliance led by BNP will give 08 names. Against these 08, the parliament will similarly elect 04 persons, and JP will submit 04 names as candidates to elect 02 persons as members of the polls-time government. In case of getting equal votes for candidates, the winner will be determined by a vote of the speaker.
The president shall direct the Election Commission (EC) to announce the election schedule to form this interim polls-time government at the earliest (at least fifteen days earlier) time to the expiry of the existing parliament. The EC will announce the election schedule and conduct the election. The parliament will elect the members of that government by maintaining the procedure mentioned above.
The government formed in this manner will be in power for three months as the ‘Interim Government’ and will govern the state. These eleven shall take oath provided that during this time, they cannot be a candidate in any kind of election or if they campaign for any candidate or participate in the campaign, they will lose the eligibility to be a member of this government; also provided that they shall not be eligible to participate in any election or by-election at the national or local level during the existence of the parliament elected under their incumbency; also provided that they shall not hold any position profitable in the government formed by that parliament elected under their incumbency.
As a next step, these eleven will propose a name from among themselves (except own name) to the president in utmost secrecy to elect the chief of the interim government. In this case, the EC will provide full cooperation to the president. In case of getting equal votes for the head of the interim government, the chief will be determined by a vote of the president.
In this way, the person who gets the highest vote will serve as the head of the polls-time government in the rank of prime minister. The chief of the polls-time government shall delegate the responsibility of running the necessary ministries to the other ten members elected at the rank of full minister.
The existing parliament will be dissolved as soon as the members of the elections-time government are sworn in.
The interim government can restructure the EC and administration or take any other steps necessary for conducting an election free, fair and credible. However, if this government fails to hold elections within the specified period due to unknown, unforeseen calamities or any malicious conspiracy, in such case, the president will extend the necessary time, and the EC will hold the elections at a time conducive to all.
Thus, after a successful parliament election, the polls-time government will be dissolved with the swearing-in of the prime minister.
(The writer is a researcher).
