Mudslinging in election campaign will only bring disaster
The two alliances are essentially the main opponents in the ongoing 13th national election campaigning.
The main partners of these two alliances, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, play the role of controllers in the election results.
The top leaders of these two parties, Tarique Rahman and Dr. Shafiqur Rahman respectively, along with other leaders and candidates, are trying to present their views to the nation and the people of their respective constituencies.
If we analyze their statements, we can see that both the parties are making a flood of promises.
They are describing the programmes they will undertake if they win the election and form the government.
At the same time, criticism is also being heard against the candidate of the opposing party.
Criticism against the opponent in elections is legally permissible. But if criticism escalates to the point of attack, then it will definitely not be democratic.
We are noticing that many candidates are throwing mudslinging at each other. It is essential to provide factual criticism of the opponent and to use decent language.
Otherwise, the campaign arena may become heated, which will disrupt the normal functioning of the election.
The nation expects substantive discussion or criticism from the candidates instead of mudslinging.
What is lacking in the election campaign arena is that the voters are aware of the promises, but they are not aware of the outline of how they will be implemented.
Our experience shows that before the elections, parties and party candidates make a lot of promises to the people.
But once the voting is over, voters do not see the implementation of those promises.
As a result, voters have been disappointed after the formation of the government, and this disappointment has given rise to anger and increased unrest in society.
Therefore, we believe that the people should be promisedwhich is implementable.
False promises are not the way to go to power. It is better to make promises within our limited resources.
The most important thing is how those promises will be implemented rather than just making promises.
There should be a clear statement on that. Only then, if the voters are satisfied, they will be more motivated to vote for the person who made the promise.
We hope, the election participants will explain their election manifestos in detail to the public.
More importantly, to ensure that the election environment remains peaceful and harmonious, everyone involved should be careful in this regard.
They should avoid attacking their opponents out of excitement and should refute them with rational arguments. Only then can the election become meaningful.