Govt yet to respond to EC proposal for ban

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The caretaker government has yet to respond to the Election Commission’s (EC) proposals for amending the existing regulations to prohibit the political parties’ having front organisations comprised of students, teachers and workers.

Over two months have gone since the EC sent the draft proposals to the law ministry, seeking also to outlaw the parties’ having branches abroad.

Unless the government brings amendments to the Political Parties Ordinance, 1978, the commission cannot make the political parties to be registered with it cut off relations with their offshoots.

Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain yesterday told The Daily Star that the EC does not know the current status of its proposals.

Contacted, the law ministry officials said they have not received any direction from the government high-ups whether the ordinance promulgated during the rule of Ziaur Rahman will be adapted in line with the EC proposals.

“We will start working on the issue once the government decides to amend the ordinance,” said a senior official of the ministry.

According to the draft proposals, political parties registered with the EC shall not form front organisations with students and teachers of any public or non-government educational institutions that receive financial aid from the government.

They will not be allowed to have branches in government and non-government financial institutions, or commercial or industrial establishments. Besides, they shall not engage themselves in activities of the labour organisations. Their registration shall stand cancelled for non-compliance with the provisions, sources said quoting from the EC proposals.

If the ordinance is amended in accordance with the proposals, both the Awami League and BNP will have to change their constitutions to de-link the wings to register with the EC.

Meanwhile, the government has not yet promulgated an ordinance to separate the EC secretariat from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), now the office of the chief adviser.

The council of advisers on June 23 approved in principle to free the secretariat from the control of the PMO, and asked the law ministry to prepare a draft ordinance to that end.

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