Category: ইংলিশ লেখাসমুহ
‘price’ to pay for the forthcoming one-sided election will be the end to our multiparty democratic system. Democracy means multiparty democracy, where the people can freely apply their…
Recently, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal frankly admitted that the Election Commission (EC) was facing a credibility problem. He attributed this problem to the controversial 2014…
In 1996, the BNP-led government passed the 13th Amendment to the constitution, allowing the formation of the neutral caretaker government (NCG). The amendment represented a “political settlement” as…
According to constitutional compulsions, the 12th national parliament election must be held within 29 January next year. The ruling Awami League is determined to hold the election within…
Regarding the (4-3) divided short order passed on 10 May 2011 by the Appellate Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court, columnist Sohrab Hassan recently wrote in Prothom Alo…
The just completed Cumilla City Corporation election was a “test case” for the newly formed Awal Commission. The EC deployed a large number of magistrates and law enforcement…
Apparently the strategy by which the ruling party managed to appoint their pre-selected persons to the election commission in 2017, was more or less repeated this time A…
In a recent press briefing, Justice Obaidul Hassan, chair of the Search Committee for the Election Commission (EC), confirmed their decision not to disclose the names of the…
The erosion of trust in our electoral system must be addressed and rectified In 2017 I had made a written submission recommending transparency in the reconstitution of the…
On January 27, after much debate, drama and blame game, the Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2022 was passed in parliament. The law…
The elections of 1,198 union parishads (UPs) were held in two phases. We have noticed five notable features in these elections. First, the main opposition party BNP boycotted…
Marked by many questions, controversies and some degree of violence, the 11th parliamentary election took place on December 30. According to the Election Commission, the overall turnout was…
Judging from the May 15 election in Khulna, and the Gazipur city corporation election on June 26, five distinct features of a controlled election have emerged. It is…
A budget is an accounting of incomes and expenditures for individuals or families. However, it is much more than that for a country. A national budget conveys clear…
The recent election of Rangpur City Corporation heralded the beginning of an important election cycle, which will end with the election for the 11th Parliament, to be held…
The Election Commission (EC) held a post-dialogue press briefing on October 26. At the briefing, the Chief Election Commissioner said that the commission must conduct elections in accordance…
There will be differences, divergence and conflict in politics. Even when the political scene is calm and consensus prevails, it is only natural that there will be a…
According to the Political Party Registration Rules 2008, registered political parties must submit their audited financial statements to the Election Commission (EC) every year. Such a requirement was…
Almost all the preparatory steps for the first round of UP elections are now over – the only thing that is still left is the actual polling on…
ON September 25, 2015, world leaders adopted a resolution entitled ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. The agenda is a “comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set…
The cabinet has recently decided in principle to allow the use of party symbols in local elections. This, we are afraid, is a dangerous decision, which could unravel…
On July 7, 2015, ECNEC approved the Rural Insfrastructure-2 project, designed to allocate Tk. 6,076 crore to 284 MPs. Under this project, each MP will be allowed to…
The finance minister has presented a ‘dream budget’ with a proposed outlay of Tk. 2,95,100 crore for FY 2015-16, of which the size of the ADP is Tk….
The media reported many irregularities, including booth captures and illegal stamping of ballot papers in the recently concluded elections of the three city corporations in Dhaka and Chittagong….
CORRUPTION – the use of public office for private gains – benefits a powerful few while imposing serious costs on large swathes of society. It is believed to…
The cycle of violence that began on January 5 is still continuing. So far over 120 people have died, 66 of them by petrol bomb. Killing people by…
Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar, Secretary of Sujon, talks about the current political situation and the latest civil society initiative for dialogue to The Daily Star’s Sushmita S Preetha….
The voterless and non-competitive ‘election’ of January 5, 2014 had created an unusual and potentially unstable situation in the country. It is clear from the blockades, deaths and…
BNP has been making repeated threats to uproot the government by staging mass movements. However, the ruling party appears to be little concerned about this. Rather, some of…
BNP has been making repeated threats to uproot the government by staging a mass movement after Eid. However, the ruling party appears to be totally unconcerned about it….
THE political situation in Bangladesh has degenerated so much that our major political parties are now only interested in capturing power, and they leave no stone unturned, including…
RECENTLY, the Secretary General of Awami League and LGRD Minister, Syed Ashraful Islam, stated that the affidavits submitted by candidates with their nomination papers have become instruments of…
The recently held Parliament elections have created serious controversies about the role of our Election Commission (EC). Many citizens are seriously critical of its failure to deliver free,…
DESPITE considerable opposition, elections to the 10th Parliament are finally over. The just completed elections remind us of the old saying that “the operation is successful, but the…
THE just concluded three-day hartal has been quite violent and bloody. According to media reports, 18 to 20 people were killed and thousands injured. There was also widespread…
Representatives of several donor countries and the United Nations recently met with our Election Commission (EC) to “know what the EC is doing with regards to its preparations…
Recently, in the BBC Hardtalk programme, our prime minister proposed the formation of an interim government during the next general election with the participation of the opposition. As…
For a long time, Citizens for Good Governance (Shujan) has advocated for neutral search committees to make appointments to constitutional and statutory bodies. We believe that only through…
The president has initiated a dialogue with political parties to ensure that the appointments of the next batch of election commissioners are acceptable to all concerned. We are…
Elections of nearly 4,500 Union Parishads (UPs) are now in the process of being completed. An important question that must be asked at this time is: after elections,…
The recent judgement of the Appellate Division declaring the non-party caretaker government (CTG) unconstitutional has generated quite a bit of controversy. The opposition BNP has already rejected it….
VoteBD is a web-based platform from SHUJAN (Shushashoner Janya Nagorik, or Citizens for Good Governance) that tracks, compiles, and disseminates information about politicians and electoral candidates in Bangladesh….
THE BNP’s national council, to be held after nearly 16 years, has generated much interest among both party loyalists and citizen groups. Within the party, this interest is…
Conflict between privilege and accountability? ACCORDING to media reports, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (the Committee) has decided to call Mr. H.T. Imam,…
BY-elections of the seven vacant parliamentary seats are scheduled for April 2. It is very important that these elections are free, fair, and peaceful. In fact, we feel…
Citizens’ rights movements must be strengthened and spread countrywide to continue political reforms and institutionalise democracy, said eminent citizens yesterday. People of the country are not politically educated…
It is now generally accepted that the breakdown of our democratic system on January 11, 2007 was due to systemic failures as well as the failures of our…
Prior to the recent parliamen tary elections, large numbers of print and electronic media journalists went to the nooks and crannies of the country and inter- viewed many…
THE nation is seeking a democratic transition through the ninth parliamentary elections. Such a transition will obviously largely depend on the candidates who are nominated, especially by the…
Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar was born in Comilla in 1946. After obtaining his master’s degree from Dhaka University in 1968, he obtained PhD in Economics from Case Western…