National Citizens Party (NCP) Senior
Joint Member Secretary Dr. Tasneem Zara has commented that the reserved seat system does not create a direct relationship between women MPs and the local people. She made the comment in her verified Facebook post on Tuesday night.
AdvertisementZara's Facebook post is presented to the readers of Jugantar in full: "I have written that in the system of reserved seats for women in Parliament, women MPs do not develop a direct relationship with the local people. That is why we from the NCP are saying that women MPs should contest from a specific seat and be elected by the people's votes. This will also create an opportunity for them to work on the problems of the local people.
An associate professor of philosophy at Jahangirnagar University wrote about this, "Does this NCP leader know what the job of a member of parliament is? Why should there be a connection with the local people? What is the job of the local government then?" A deputy secretary of the Election Commission also agreed with this opinion.
Since there is some confusion among scholars like him, I thought I would briefly write about why it is important for members of parliament to have direct connections with the local people. Why it is part of the foundation of democracy.
Members of Parliament do not just make laws.
- They make laws on behalf of a community, keeping in mind their experiences and problems. This work only makes sense when the MP has his own public base, those who elected him and to whom he is accountable. The idea of representation is, 'I speak because someone sent me.'
2. If a member of parliament does not have a specific voting population, then his work is accountable only to the party. Then he follows the party's instructions, does what the party wants. But in a democracy, the first responsibility of a member of parliament should be to the people, for whom he is making laws. If he is not elected on the basis of votes, this cycle of accountability breaks down.
3. You can read reports about the problems
of factory workers, but if you are elected directly, you will hear the cries of that worker in your own office. You will hear from a farmer how his field has been ruined due to lack of fertilizer. A mother will tell you how there were no injections at the local clinic. To reflect the solutions to these problems in the language of law, there needs to be a real connection with the field. This connection is not made by reading books, it is not made by proxy, it is only made by mixing with the people.
