There has been a serious uncertainty over the conduct of next general election on schedule with the Election Commission (EC) mired deep in controversy. The CEC should stand down to scotch all the controversy and disputes, they suggested at a roundtable discussion.

Held at the city's Brac Centre Inn, the discussion was organised by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).

Professor Khan Sarwar Murshid, a trustee of the TIB, was the moderator at the debate on "Election Commission: Expectations, Achievements and Tasks to be done".

Awami League (AL) Presidium Member Suranjit Sengupta said democracy is now under threat, as the EC itself has become a bar to holding a free and fair election.

Referring to a meeting between the CEC and advisers of the caretaker government, he said the CEC has told lies in public about the meeting and it is a major misconduct.

"How will the commission hold the election in a free and fair manner when it can't even prepare an acceptable and flawless voter list?" he asked.

Suranjit, a former lawmaker, said President Iajuddin Ahmed has the power to remove the CEC from his position and he should exercise it.

If Justice Aziz resigns, it will help to sustain democracy, he said stressing the need for strengthening the EC for the sake of democracy.

Khan Sarwar Murshid said the country's politics is now going through a destructive process. The EC should be able to function as an important institution.

Asif Nazrul, a teacher of the law department at Dhaka University, said it is now an imperative that a Supreme Judicial Council is formed to enquire into the allegations of misconduct against the CEC.

"We should not forget that officers in charge, returning officers and presiding officers play the most important role in a general election. So, bringing some changes in the Election Commission alone cannot help conduct a fair election," he noted.

Badiul Alam Majumder, country director of the Hunger Project-Bangladesh, said the common people feel that the EC has turned out to be one of the major barriers to free conduct of elections in the country.

Without an acceptable voter list, it is not possible to see an acceptable election, he added.

The EC is now serving the interest of a particular quarter. It has become an ineffective, non-transparent, anti-people and corrupt organization that stands accountable to none, Badiul Alam observed.

Referring to the existing practices in politics, former AL lawmaker Faruk Khan said workers in his constituency recently did not take heed of his request not to bring out expensive motor-cycle rally.

"They said that followers in the rival camp has had a rally with around 200 motorbikes," he said adding," We need to come out of this sort of practices and strive to make politics clean."

It is not possible to contest an election with a budget of Tk 5 lakh, Faruk said suggesting that a candidate should be allowed to spend between Tk 15 to Tk 20 lakh while the security money should be raised to Tk one lakh from the present Tk 10,000.

He said he thinks most of the recommendations mentioned in the TIB reports are acceptable.

Former CEC Justice Abdur Rouf said, "Today we are crying for democracy. But the institutions that are necessary to strengthen democracy are being destroyed."

He said he had started a process to introduce identity cards for the voters but not a single politician gave support to the project. "They might have thought if the project was implemented, they won't be able to influence the voters," he noted.

"The idea of neutrality is not a good one. We should rather think about how to make the election process neutral," Rouf said.

Professor Muzaffer Ahmad, chairman of TIB board of trustees, said there are many weaknesses in the EC as an institution. " There are many good practices around us. An institute that conducts the election should be able to work as per the electoral laws," he observed.

Abdur Razzak, another former AL lawmaker said corruption affects everything and so it should be stopped first. The people with black money seek to make the EC partisan so that they could get elected, he added.

The present EC does not have the power to undo an election even if it is highly controversial, he said.

Professor Abu Ahmed of Dhaka University emphasised on making the EC financially independent. Referring to the controversy over CEC, he said, "The whole focus is now on a particular person."

Earlier, Shahzada M Akram and Shadhan Kumar Das jointly made a presentation on a TIB report titled 'Bangladesh Election Commission: A Diagnostic Study.'

Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TIB, said the non-governmental anti-graft organisation got cooperation from all except the EC in preparing the report. "It's unfortunate that we did not get necessary help from the Election Commission in doing the job."