Bangladesh Election

The Election Commission (EC) unveiled a set of proposals for electoral reforms that include making public the statements to be submitted by the parliamentary election candidates.

All sorts of documents to be furnished with the nomination papers will be posted on the EC website. If anyone is found to have concealed facts, the commission will recommend cancellation of their membership in parliament.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda at a press briefing announced the draft proposals and said those would be finalised after a series of dialogues with the political parties and civil society members, and inter-ministerial meetings.

In the proposals, the EC seeks the authority to cancel candidature on grounds of irregularities. It wants to make mandatory registration of the political parties with provisions designed to ensure financial transparency and democracy within the parties.

It also plans to impose restriction on retired military or civil servants, loan and utility bill defaulters, NGO officials and independent candidates with regard to participation in the national polls.

Besides, none will be allowed to contest from more than three constituencies at a time.

The CEC said the proposals aim to free the electoral process of muscle power and black money, and create an atmosphere encouraging the honest and dedicated political leaders to take part in the elections.

He added that the commission will start talking with the political parties and other stakeholders soon after withdrawal of the ban on indoor politics. "I have already expressed our anxiety to the government. We hope they will lift the ban by May 8," the poll chief said referring to his meeting the law adviser on Wednesday.

Once the proposals are finalised, they will be sent to the council of advisers for approval.

The CEC said no unregistered organisation will be permitted to field candidates in the elections. Besides, none will be allowed to be a candidate of a registered political party unless three years have passed since his/her enrolment.

A prospective independent candidate will have to come up with signatures from at least one percent of his constituents supporting him.

Those intending to compete for more than one constituency will have to deposit Tk 5 lakh for each. In case of their winning all three seats, deposits for two will be forfeited, said one of the proposals adding that it will help the EC bear the by-election expenses.

The commission proposes that an electoral dispute will have to be settled within six months. The time limit cannot be extended even if a High Court bench is reconstituted with an election case pending before it. A petition for leave to appeal against a High Court judgment must be resolved within two months, and if the Appellate Division grants permission the appeal will have to be disposed of within four months.

A civil or military bureaucrat will not be allowed to run in a parliamentary election before three years since retirement. Similar provision has been suggested for the officials of NGOs run on foreign grants.

The EC also recommends that appeals against acceptance of candidature by the returning officers should be allowed.

According to the proposals, a political party that had won at least one parliamentary seat in elections since 1973 will be considered fit for registration. The organisations not meeting the condition will have to have offices and committees in at least 32 districts and upazilas under those. They must have at least one thousand members at a district unit and 200 members at upazila.

A registered political party will have to follow its constitution and have bank accounts to maintain its funds. No unregistered party shall join an alliance led by a registered political party.

If a registered political party violates an electoral provision, its registration will be cancelled.

The expatriate Bangladesh community of as many as 70 lakh remains out of the voter list, let alone participate in the national election, is indicative of an exclusionary nature of our elective democracy. In light of this, it's heartening to note that the Election Commission has decided to fill the void by including the overseas Bangladeshis in the national electoral roll thereby giving them their long-denied right to vote.

With the decision for a database to be created for voters with their photographs, extending the facility to the overseas Bangladeshis cannot be a difficult exercise. All that the government needs ensuring is to have the expatriates registered with Bangladesh embassies or missions abroad. They can either vote through the missions, or preferably via the internet where the counting can be done instantaneously.

It is worth recalling that the Bangladeshis living abroad had launched a movement demanding right to franchise in 2001 election. Even though the then chief election commission M A Sayed took up the matter, he had to abandon the project citing complications. So how we get around the 'complications' and the pitfalls that occurred at that time are the jobs cut out for the interim government.

The pressing nature of the issue can be appreciated from three angles; first and foremost, remittances from overseas Bangladeshis being the topmost foreign exchange earner and their contribution to the economy a dire necessity, their inaccessibility to voting right is simply unfair and unjust. Let's not forget, we are vociferously keen on attracting investment from non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs).

Overarching imperative is that no citizen of Bangladesh, whether he or she is living at home or abroad, can be denied his or her constitutional right to vote; and it is as ludicrous as it is untenable that for some technical or administrative inadequacies he or she should be denied participation in the election. Last but not least, could we not just follow the procedures of other countries in settling the matter?

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Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina said the AL, if voted to power, would legitimise the activities of the present caretaker government as it has earned the confidence and appreciation of the people.

She said the government should hold the polls while this confidence and respect is there.

Sheikh Hasina said it would be good for the caretaker government and the country if Parliamentary election was held as early as possible to save democracy.

"Delaying election in a democratic process is not a good sign...the caretaker government should hold the polls earlier to save democracy," she said, adding that it would not be good to keep the election postponed for an indefinite period.

Terming the caretaker government an "outcome" of the Awami League-led alliance's movement, Hasina said it would be shameful and also a failure for them, if the caretaker administration failed to hold free and fair election at the right time.

Hasina urged the caretaker government to continue the drive against thieves, corrupts and those who grabbed and smuggled out people's wealth. "But some innocent people had been arrested during this drive. Why Obaidul Quader and Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir were arrested? How much wealth they have?"

She said: "When I spoke against the corruption of the coalition government, everybody thought it was due to political vindictiveness. But the current drive has proved that BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami are really corrupt."

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The caretaker government has slapped a complete ban on all sorts of political activities, including indoor politics, processions and meetings, across the country until further order.

"Stern legal actions will be taken against the violators of the order," said a press note issued last night by the home ministry.

The press note said it is for all concerned that despite a ban on the political activities under the State of Emergency Rules 2007, different political parties conducted their political activities and the government took a lenient view thereof.

"But, it was noticed that different political parties were misusing the government's liberal attitude," said the press note.

The embargo came in the wake of a drive against bigwig politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats on charges of corruption and crime.

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The 72-hour deadline for the 50 graft suspects to submit wealth statements ended 0n February 25 with two former ministers including Mirza Abbas, an ex-lawmaker, a former bureaucrat and a ward commissioner being arrested on the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) premises.

The intelligence men in plainclothes held former housing and public works minister and BNP leader Abbas, former civil aviation and tourism minister and senior Awami League (AL) leader Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, ex-BNP lawmaker Hafiz Ibrahim, ex-power secretary ANH Akhtar Hossain and DCC Commissioner MA Qayyum as the compound was swarming with journalists and onlookers.

Former BNP lawmaker from Narayanganj-4 Mohammad Giasuddin surrendered before the local Cognisance Court at around 10:00am. He was later sent to jail.

The same day in Sylhet, city BNP President Ariful Haque Chowdhury whose name figures in the ACC list of 50 people suspected of corruption gave himself up to a court.

Meanwhile, Law Adviser Mainul Hosein said trial of the detained political bigwigs and others accused of graft will begin by March. Those who still remain untouched will be rounded up soon after the government finishes gathering information about their corruption, he added.

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