Editorial
Barring the convicted and corrupt from polls
Onus still on political parties to field clean candidates
We welcome the decision of the caretaker government to enact laws to bar the corrupt, the loan defaulters, criminals, and those convicted by the court from par-ticipating in the forthcoming elections.
For all too long our politics has been held hostage by these vile elements of the society, who have not only smeared the image of the country but also hindered national development. We believe that it will be re-demption of the caretaker government's pledge to rid our politics of the dishonest, crooked and the shady elements, of ridding us not only of black money but ex-cessive use of 'white' money also, and of muscle power, and thereby restore the confidence of the people in the polity of Bangladesh.
In this regard we would like to suggest that the pro-posed laws must be cast-iron that would on the one hand uphold the underlying principle of justice and fairly play while on the other prevent these elements from exploiting any loophole to their advantage. Under no circumstances can we countenance a situation where these elements would stage a comeback and dic-tate the course of the affairs of the state.
The government ought also to look objectively at the current provision of minimum period of sentence, that of five years, that disqualifies a convicted person from participating in elections for a particular period of time. We feel that for those who have been con-victed of serious crimes and corruption should be barred if he has been sentenced for a term of more than two years. And in grave cases of murder such per-sons may be barred for life.
In the case of loan defaulters the law must be more sensitive since many loanees default not out of their own volition but because of factors beyond their con-trol. The state must therefore differentiate between willful defaulters and those, who despite their efforts, have failed to pay back the loan installments. We also suggest that the terms of rescheduling loans for the aspiring candidates should be more than mere token-ism.
However, all that we have stated above takes on a secondary importance to the central fact that onus lies on the political parties to refrain from, in any way, en-couraging or nominating any person of dubious and questionable credentials to take part in any election. Unless a fundamental change is imbibed in the very culture and dynamics of the political parties to shun persons with culpable track records, the electoral at-mosphere cannot be purged of nefarious elements. The two major parties should lead the way.
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