—Taufiqur Rahman—

The High Court’s decision to nullify certain provisions of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution makes way for the revival of caretaker government (CG) system. The country is now confident that we will have a CG for organising the election in 2026. Given the high stakes in the upcoming election, we must plan well to make sure the CG is truly non-partisan. Bangladesh can define its own CG system that is suitable for our country.

The main purpose of a caretaker government is to ensure free and fair elections. The CG is also responsible for accurate and timely tabulation of votes, maintaining law and order throughout the election process, and ensuring a peaceful transfer of power to the elected representatives. We should not mix up interim government with caretaker government. Because the CG has a specific responsibility tied to conducting an election independent of any government or political parties.

The interim government, on the other hand, is an unelected government body with specific responsibilities to govern the country for an interim period. An interim government (IG) is normally formed after a revolution or when an elected government collapses.

As the country will have a CG for the upcoming election, it is important that we follow certain steps to make sure it is non-partisan and possesses the required capacity to conduct the election and carry-out its election related responsibilities. Here are a few suggestions.

First, the Chief Adviser (CA) should form a CG committee comprising of representatives from the political parties, student bodies, judiciary, defence establishment, and community groups from urban and rural areas. The Chief Justice should chair this committee to ensure a fair and transparent process. The CG committee will be responsible for selecting CG members as well as defining CG’s responsibilities. They will also define the composition of CG and key responsibilities of each member, management structure, and accountability mechanism.

By following a very rigorous process, the CG committee should select each member of the CG. Each potential candidate for CG should go through proper selection process and must be selected by two thirds of the votes of the CG committee members. The CG committee must ensure that each selected member is nonpartisan. CG members must be Bangladeshi citizens by birth. The recommendations from the CG committee will be submitted to the CA and the President for their final approval. The President and CA should not interfere with the work of CG committee. This entire process should be completed by December 2025.

The duration of the CG could be three months. As soon as the CG assumes its responsibility, all advisers of the interim government should resign except for the Chief Adviser. The interim government advisers, after their resignation, must be allowed to exercise their basic rights to participate in the election as an independent candidate or be nominated by a political party. None of the interim government advisers will be allowed to campaign or join a political party before their resignation. This process must be carefully managed to avoid conflicts of interests.

Second, the CG committee must take into account the acuity and acumen of the prospective members of the caretaker government while sifting through the candidates. Conducting a free and fair election in a densely populated country like Bangladesh is not an easy task.

The process is complicated owing to the fact that political parties and their supporters often engage in conflicts during the elections. So, the members of the CG should be good enough to tackle such situation. Law and order must be maintained through implementation of zero tolerance policy against violence, fake news, corruption, and intimidation. This is a very important point because our past experiences are not very encouraging. The country has witnessed incidents like ballot stuffing and voter intimidation during the past elections. Such undemocratic activities should not be allowed to take place.

Finally, no short cut should be followed while forming the CG. A nonpartisan CG is critical to conducting a free and fair election. A well-thought-out process as outlined above will build public confidence and motivate people to cast their votes. Right now, millions of voters are confused about their voting rights because they do not have a clear understanding of how the process will work and whether their votes will matter. To regain confidence of the voters, it is of paramount importance that only people with clear image and no political affiliation are selected for the caretaker government. In addition, unlike previous elections, law enforcement agencies need to play a neutral role to make sure that voters can cast their votes without any fear and no one can resort to violence to create unrest or exert undue influence during the elections.

________________________________

The writer is an international development expert based in Maryland, USA