AL Nomination: Online process ignored, code of conduct defied thru showdown

The Election Commission gave importance to the online-based nomination process for the January 7 general election, to avoid hassle in the process involved.  

Keeping the matter in mind, the ruling Awami League launched an app called “Smart Nomination”.

However, many nomination-seekers and their followers were more focused on showdown rather than the online-based process of collecting and submitting their nomination forms.

The ground reality

On November 17, a day before the nomination form sale started, the Awami League in a notification instructed the party leaders and activists against additional gatherings while collecting and submitting the nomination forms. 

But a visit to the party’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka found a total reverse scenario.   

Traffic in and around the area was badly hampered from November 18 and 21, especially between 10am and 5pm, as the nomination form sale and submission process were underway then.

The chaos was also felt in surrounding areas, with the followers of the nomination-seekers in large numbers thronged there in a festive mood.

Law enforcers grappled with calming them down.

The party sold 3362 nomination papers for 300 seats in the four days which means, on average, 11 forms were sold for each constituency. Nevertheless, only 121 forms were collected online.

The Awami League earned a total of Taka 16.81 crore by selling the nomination papers as each of the forms was sold at Taka 50,000.

Why this negligence?

Talking to several nomination aspirants, it was learnt that the entire nomination process is a matter of great celebration for them as the election is held every five years.

It means they only get to mark the occasion of nomination just once every five years.

“So, we don’t want to spoil the chance to celebrate,” said one of them.

But political analysts think otherwise.

Showing off own political power or popularity is the common and age-old trend among nomination-seekers, they said.  

It would have been even better if all collected and submitted nomination forms online, the experts suggested.

Dhaka-17 Awami League MP and the party’s central executive member Mohammad A Arafat collected his nomination form online for the same constituency.

“Awami League doesn’t only make others dream, but materializes that. The party designed the outline of a Smart Bangladesh after making the country a Digital Bangladesh. As part of the first step towards a Smart Bangladesh, the online nomination process has been launched for the first time in the country,” he said.

According to him, all citizens of a Smart Bangladesh should be smart and tech-savvy. A Smart Bangladesh will have a smart economy, government and society.

Asked about the chaos at the nomination form sale venue, the MP said the online process was not properly responded by the party men.

Code of conduct breaches

Nomination-seeker and actress Mahiya Mahi flanked by her followers and well-wishers was seen arriving at the Awami League central office to collect a form.

Question about the breach of the code of conduct, she said, “I think it is a festival and the crowd was quite normal. All of the candidates are coming here with hundreds of followers.

“Even many of them are accompanied by a band party, which I didn’t bring in here,” she said, claiming that the overcrowding was no breach of the code of conduct.  

Dhaka-7 MP Haji Md Salim came with a massive motorcade.

The chaos at the Awami League office was so huge that the party’s Secretary General Obaidul Quader on November 19 failed to enter it despite several attempts.

Vehicular movement in and around the area came to a grinding halt.

Like others, the on-duty media workers, too, suffered while covering the events there.

On the last day of the nomination form sales on November 21, Awami League Office Secretary Biplab Barua admitted the fact and apologized for the sufferings. 

Lower sales, higher income

The number of nomination papers sold this time is lower than that of 2018. For the previous election, the party sold out 4,023 forms.

On the contrary, the income through the nomination form sales of this year is higher than for the last election.  In 2018, Awami League earned Tk12.069.

Online application procedure

The “Smart Nomination” app could be downloaded and installed from the Google Play Store or iOS App Store.

Apart from this, the nomination form could also be submitted online using “nomination.albd.org website. In order to fill and submit the form online, first of all, a nomination seeker had to enter the app or website and register.

After logging in, the nomination form could be filled and submitted after completing the payment of Tk 50,000 electronically as per the rules.