THE council of advisers to the interim government has approved amendments to two laws — the Election Commission Secretariat Act 2009 and the Election Officers (Special Provisions) Act 1991 — aimed at affording more authority to the Election Commission. The Election Commission Secretariat (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 and the Election Officer (Special Provisions) (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 would ensure free, fair and impartial elections, making the Election Commission more dynamic, granting it more authority to recruit all its officials and ensuring accountability of all officials engaged in election management. The amendment would allow the establishment of the Election Commission Service for the appointment of officers to the Election Commission Secretariat. In view of this, the move that the government has taken to amend the electoral laws is a good move forward. The amendment would also place back the preparation, maintenance and preservation of the national identity card database under the Election Commission, which was officially placed under the home affairs ministry with the passage of the National Identity Registration Act 2023, which was repealed after the August 2024 political changeover.
Whilst all this remains a good move on part of the government, the move alone may not strengthen the Election Commission and ensure the holding of elections to the level needed. This is because whilst the Election Commission can look into electoral management at the centre in Dhaka, the management in districts and upazilas lies with deputy commissioners, who are returning officers and upazila nirbahi officers, who are assistant returning officers. And, officers of both categories are, in fact, part of the executive, which leaves ample scope for them to manipulate the elections in a partisan manner. The Election Commission has offices down to upazilas, but the structure is too weak to take on the executive. Besides, the Election Commission people who run the district and upazila offices of the commission are no match — in neither qualifications nor powers nor skills nor experience either — for the people of the executive who oversee the election management at the levels. A procedural enhancement of authority of the commission’s people without its practical application would hardly work to head off electoral ills in outlying areas. It is, therefore, imperative that the government should adequately arm up all offices of the Election Commission with people having the qualification, authority and experience required to run the electoral show. The amendment to the laws could shield the election administration from political interference if the government would mind the other issues effectively.
The Election Commission would be officially empowered to hold the elections keeping itself away from political interference to some extent, but the government should staff all election offices with people having the needed qualifications, authority, skills and experiences to take on the executive and to make the independence of the election authorities effective and meaningful.
