Dhaka: Former Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda on Tuesday said political parties also have a big responsibility to make the next parliamentary elections fair.

‘The Election Commission (EC) is not solely responsible to make the election fair. There’re many players here. Political parties also have a big responsibility to make the polls fair,’ he told reporters after the EC’s dialogue with election experts, reports the UNB.

As part of its dialogue with different stakeholders, the EC arranged the meeting with the election experts, including former chief election commissioners and former election commissioners, at Nirbachan Bhaban.

Out of 26 invitees, 16 participated in the nearly two and a half hours’ meeting held with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda in the chair.

Shamsul Huda said the electoral system was affected largely by the boycott culture in the last election. ‘So, political parties will have to remain alert this time and all should join the election.’

In reply to a question over political parties’ proposal over the election-time government, the former CEC said the issue is related to fundamental reform.

 ‘There’ll be no caretaker government any more as an amendment was brought to the Constitution in this regard. And you can’t bring another amendment (to change the format of the election-time govt) due to the time constraint if you want to arrange the next election within the timeframe,’ he said.

‘All parties will have to join the next election under the existing circumstances, condition and environment,’ Huda added.

He said they suggested that the Commission earn public confidence and strengthen itself, particularly development of its infrastructure and human resources.

‘The commission will have to earn the trust. If the political parties think this Commission will be able to deliver a good election by and large, they will participate in it,’ he added.

The former CEC said this Commission has already earned the trust to some extent, but it will have to continue to uphold the trust through their fair remarks and activities.

Besides, the experts emphasised on the security so that voters can return home safely after exercising their voting rights and it is possible to ensure security to voters with the deployment of BGB, Rab and Police, he added.

‘A long-term solution will not be achieved through scattered approaches ahead of every election. We’ll have to think of what we need to do to make the Election Commission effective,’ he said.

The election experts also asked the Commission to take steps so that it can arrange elections by making returning officers from the EC’s own staff in the future.

In reply to a question over the deployment of army with magistracy power, Shamsul Huda said the EC will have to take decision following the existing legal frameworks. ‘It’s a political question whether the army will be given the magistracy power in this circumstance.’

He said if the army is deployed anywhere and the army officers concerned see any imminent problem there, he or she can apply his inheritance power without conferment of any magisterial power according to a provision of the Constitution. So, the army has the power in the existing laws.

In reply to another question, if lopsided election is arranged this time, there will be a problem.

Former election commissioner Sohul Hossain said the EC can take an initiative for holding a negotiation among political parties to bring all in the election. But the EC should not be blamed if its initiative fails, he added.

‘We’ve suggested the Commission to exercise its power strictly. The election officers will have to be neutral. They (officers) will have to be motivated and trained up for this,’ he added.

Former CEC Abdur Rouf said they suggested setting up a polling station permanently for 500 voters.

Noting that it will not be possible to arrange fair polls with government officials, he said the grassroots voters should conduct the vote casting.

Former election commissioner Shah Nawaz said he suggested the appointment of returning officers from the EC’s own staff. ‘All parties, I think, will participate in the next election as they joined the EC’s dialogue. The Commission will have to take initiatives to make the election fair,’ he said.

About the January-5 election, he said there were some chaos in the election as a big party did not take part in it. This time the condition will be different if the all parties join the polls, Shah Nawaz said.

Besides, former election commissioners M Shakhawat Hossain, Md Saiful Alam, Mohammad Abdul Mobarak and Mohammad Abu Hafiz, Election Commission’s former secretary Humayun Kabir, former principal secretary Abdul Karim, former IGP Mohammad Hadis Uddin, former director general of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Major General (retd) Md Rafiqul Islam, former local government senior secretary Monzur Hossain and former secretary ASM Yahia Chowdhury, among others, joined the meeting.

With this meeting, the EC’s three-month dialogue with different stakeholders concluded.

The Commission held dialogues with civil society members, media persons and all the 40 registered political parties, election observers and women leaders since July 31 last for taking their opinions over the EC’s preparation for the 11^th national election likely to be held in December 2018.

In the dialogues, the participants mostly suggested the Election Commission to deploy the army in the next general election, while many others for the dissolution of parliament with the announcement of election schedule and refraining from use of electronic voting machines in the election until the public confidence is gained.