EC lags behind reform roadmap

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The Election Commission (EC) could not complete electoral reforms in over a year, raising doubts if it would be able to have the political parties registered by June as per its time frame.

According to its roadmap announced on July 15 last year, proposals for electoral reforms were to be made into laws by February this year and the political parties were to have four months’ time to register with the commission after carrying out necessary reforms.

But for delay in sending the electoral reform proposals to the government to make those into laws the EC might have to change its deadline for registration that has been proposed to be mandatory for the political parties to contest the parliamentary polls.

“It’s true we could not complete the tasks relating to electoral reforms within the time frame specified in the roadmap. And in this particular case, the commission has fallen behind schedule,” Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda told reporters yesterday.

He attributed the delay to the stalemate over the dialogue with the BNP.

The poll chief, however, reaffirmed that the long-stalled ninth parliamentary polls would be held by the year-end as declared in the roadmap.

The commission now plans to send the proposals to the government at the end of April since it believes it would be able to hold talks with the BNP after April 10, the day the High Court is scheduled to rule on the dispute over the party’s leadership, said sources.

Reconstituted on February 4 last year, the present EC initiated a process to make sweeping electoral reforms and unveiled a set of proposals to that end on April 5 last year. The previous day, CEC Huda met the then law adviser and asked for immediate withdrawal of restrictions on indoor politics so the EC can have discussions with the political parties to firm up the proposals.

But the government did not respond promptly to the call, leading to delay in opening the dialogue on electoral reforms.

On assurance that the curbs on indoor politics would soon be lifted, the EC announced its electoral roadmap on July 15.

There, it stipulated that the dialogue would be held between September and November last year and proposals for electoral reforms incorporated into laws by February this year.

The EC began its much-talked electoral reforms talks on September 12, two days after the government relaxed restrictions on indoor politics in the capital.

But the commission-BNP discussions originally scheduled for November 22 last year could not get underway due to legal complexities. Leaving out BNP, the EC held the second round of talks with 15 political parties in February.

Asked yesterday if the time for political parties to register would be extended as the law required has yet to come in force, the CEC did not reply.

Officials at the EC Secretariat however admitted that it might not be possible to maintain the June time frame.

“It’s not clear when the laws will be ready. At least one more month might be needed for the proposals to become laws,” a senior official said. If the proposals are made into laws by May, the registration time would have to be extended.

“Since we could not hold talks with the BNP, we could not a send a report to the government compiling the dialogue outcomes,” the CEC said.

The government is working on its own account and the commission has no relation to it, he said referring to the initiative for talks between the government and political parties this month.

Replying to another query, the CEC said the EC would not announce the schedule for polls to Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet city corporations until it receives the copy of the laws on the corporations.

Earlier, the commission had announced that it would hold election to the four city corporations in April, and the schedule was to be published by March.

Asked if they are behind schedule in holding city corporation polls as per the electoral roadmap, Huda replied in the negative.

He said according to the roadmap the polls to local government bodies were supposed to begin from January this year and continue till October. “So, we still have time to hold city corporation elections within the time frame.”

Queried, the CEC declined to make any comment on the two other election commissioners’ reported grievances over placement of the EC Secretariat under sole control of the CEC.

Sources close to the commissioners–Muhammed Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussainsaid the two plan to meet the chief adviser next week to register their objections to the issue.

The EC Secretariat has been freed from the prime minister’s office in March.

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