A glitch to mass participation

Muhammad Zubair writes for DOT : 
The Election Commission (EC) though assured voters of free and participatory 11th Election scheduled to be held on December 30, 2018, this statement turns out to be somewhat paradoxical as it also bans the movement of transport during the election time, starting from December 28, 2018. The EC also blocks the movement of motor-bikes even for the journalists. It will definitely pose a challenge to the voters to appear the poll-center and cast their votes since all the voters are not living in places adjacent to the poll-centers. The situation is even worse in the cases of those persons who are living outside their respective constituencies. The people live outside their constituencies for different purposes including education, business, public or private jobs and so forth for living their livelihood. So, the citizens willing to appear and participate in the electing persons of their choices may lose their enthusiasm to take the trouble of traversing the distance and cast their votes. Thus the participation of people from all walks of life will be impeded by this decision which will ultimately put a question to mark to the participatory election. Moreover, the observers from home and abroad may also find it troublesome to reach the centers and observe the election procedure.
Besides, the ban on the free movement by journalists using motor-bikes during election time was a bit unexpected and the credibility of the fair-election will be hampered thereby if the journalists failed to reach the center for unavailability of transport. As we know that, in remote areas, the journalists used to ride bike to reach the poll-center and reports thereon. For terming an election to be fair and participatory, the presence of the journalists in the poll-center and free access to it is must. This type of banning is also not in consonance with the underlying principles of our Constitution as the right to freedom of movement and speech are guaranteed there. Although the EC may reach to this decision on the plea of nationality security and fair election, the complete ban is not desirable as it ultimately thwart the active participation of voters. Instead of complete banning, it could reduce the flow of mass vehicles or arrange the alternative means in this regard in order to ensure participation of all the voters and exercise their democratic right of franchise.
The writer is Research Assistant, Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA)