To add to my earlier comments, if a partisan person, like Mahmudur Rahman, can come out with the truth as the above link shows, isn’t it too pessimistic to doubt viability and success of a campaign for ‘no’ vote?

Folks, any anti-corrupt candidate PROPOSAL (no vote?) is good, and thats what I am getting at, and if thats carried out, then MORE convicts and crooks will be eliminated from the system.
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And heres the good news from DS today, looks like there is some nomination criteria after all. We have some hope for the future :

[The nomination paper of Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad (Habiganj-3) was declared invalid as another aspirant filed nomination as a JP candidate for the same constituency, reports our correspondent from Habiganj.

The nomination of journalist Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, who filed nomination for Feni-1 as an AL candidate, was cancelled for defaulting on loans. The RO also cancelled nominations of eight candidates in different constituencies in Feni, reports our Feni Correspondent.

In Bhola, the nomination paper of BNP leader Hafiz Ibrahim, who filed nomination for Bhola-2 as an independent candidate, was cancelled on Wednesday as he was convicted in corruption cases. The RO also cancelled the nominations of four other candidates including Siddiqur Rahman Manna, assistant personal secretary of Dhaka city Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, reports our correspondent from Bhola........]]

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=66206

but ec filtering only suffocates new parties from breathing first breath and ensuring the depolyiment of a very *paki* sense of ‘education’.

the two begums should have been punished severely for their crimes and vanished from this sacred earth. but their accusers had no spine and legal forces had little competance. the least the EC can do is apply the rules to make hope more easy to visualise.

look at formula one racing, they change the rules all the time to keep it interesting. oh yeah, almost forgot, “bengali muslims dont do institutions!”

sal j jamal,
i wonder where the ‘no’ option appears on the voting form and what symbol it has. i think it’s symbol should be something deshis can associate with imagination and that the future isnt doomed to follow these 4 or 5 particular trails.

its like with atheism. the first part of shahada is ‘no’. the first part of a political future for bangladesh is with a ‘no’.

its about formalising that apathy.

Fug, its a fantastic proposal about “no campaign”. a score of my chums and self are now entirely mesmerizing on this matter, as the majority are not even aware that such “no” vote provision exist hence, you will have a lot of promotion campaign works on your hands.

Could you check back and let me know?? As far as I know this Hannan is the army man. Dhaka-17 is mostly Cantonment with Gulshan and Banani

Read it here http://www.newagebd.com/2008/dec/04/front.html

” NO” isn’t “let me think about it” . NO means NO I DON’T THINK EITHER DESERVE TO HAVE A SEAT IN OUR PARLIAMENT

% experiments have already been grandfathered in other election worlds, no need to re-invent the wheel. The results of those experiments is, as I said – the EC must filter the No-No’s out of the ballot, otherwise people think these are “qualified” candidates, when in reality they are convict/crooks.

jyoti, is anybody interested in taking the ‘no’ campaign to the streets? I think it could be an initiative for Real Development Alternative. off the cuff people say they are all rubbish. and not necessarily the ’sophisticated ones.

a no campaign would be so much fun and educative, just like a Nader one. it wouldnt have the india’s muppet, war criminal, autocratic, stupid baggage that current campaigns have. it would bring together a lot of honourable people who refuse to allow themselves to be used and abused by the joker classes.

what would you do with said data?

This isn’t the “no civil war” hannan shah. this is the other brigadier hannan shah

I personally don’t think we will see a sizeable ‘no’ vote. I think most voters choose a side, and most do so knowingly. But it would be interesting to see exactly what %age of votes cast are for ‘none of the above’.

You can expect handful of sophisticated voters to maybe abstain, but majority voters will pick ‘one of the above’ candidates – most of whom are crooks or convicts (if EC doesnt filter). This leads the nation and parliament to be inherently corrupt and criminal. Back again to pre 1/11.

None of the above its much more ethical than not voting or voting for someone rubbish. it is actually a very ‘progressive’ vote to make. It means you a) voice your concern, b) deny those parasites your blood c) create a political signal thats the equivalent of sticking two fingers up at the hopeless main players.

Apparently destroying these powerpoles physically and institutionally from the head personality down to the party worker, is ‘barbaric’ and ‘un democratic’. None of the above is a more consensual, effette yet powerful way of doing the same. dont give them your power folks, they are rubbish.

I think it needs to be publicised more, perhaps under some CARE sponsored ‘youth’ directive or some inane ‘talent’ show. That would get the message through. You could even interpret a ‘none of the above’ vote to be a vote for the CTG with a bigger people’s mandate. A strange electoral alliance indeed.

If equating Khaleda and Hasina is glorifying 1/11, then of course I glorified 1/11. If supporting a level playing field before election is glorifying Gen. Moeen, then surely I glorified 1/11.

I still believe 1/11 has forced the polity, for the first time, to recognize corruption as the no.1 issue / problem facing the nation. However, how could I glorify 1/11 as the present govt. never came anywhere near creating a level playing field? So, I have no reason to hide ‘under 1000 feet earth now’. Rather, its people like you who should do so for delivering gospel in support of the pre-1/11 Mafia-rule, masquerading as democracy.