Mass people in Bangladesh had no role in polls in last 5 years: Outgoing EC Mahbub Talukdar

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Election commissioner Mahbub Talukdar on Monday said that Bangladesh’s mass people had no participation in the electoral process in the past five years while the ‘game of money’ dominated the elections.
In his last press conference as an election commissioner on his last working day at Nirbachon Bhaban in Dhaka, he said that lawmakers were now giving more attention to development than making law while domination of businesspeople in the politics was gradually increasing.
He said that development cannot be an alternative to democracy. ‘To present the country at a dignified level in the global forums, there is no alternative to respecting human rights. The human rights and the right to vote are the two sides of the same coin,’ he said.
From the UP elections to the parliamentary elections, people's will was not reflected anywhere, he said and added that the recent union parishad polls had shown that democracy was missing from elections.
He said that the biggest weakness of the Election Commission was its lack of action against the allegations of irregularities and partiality of those affiliated with the polls.
‘I am speaking on behalf of democracy, I lost as a minority. There had been instances when I was not allowed to speak at the commission meeting before the 11th parliamentary polls,’ he said.
He said that to ensure a fair and nonpartisan election, the electoral system has to be changed even if it required changes in law and the constitution.