The Election Commission (EC) has no plan for taking any immediate step against political parties’ reported unequivocal attempts to nominate candidates for the August 4 city corporation and municipality polls violating the electoral code of conduct.
Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain yesterday however said the commission will ’start enforcing the electoral rules strictly after the final selection of candidates’.
“Let there be an electoral atmosphere first…for that we are ignoring the political parties’ current activities in relation to the polls,” Sohul told reporters at his office adding, the commission will take stern actions against violations of the electoral code of conduct after the list of candidates is finalised.
According to the poll schedule, candidatures will be finalised after the July 13 deadline for withdrawal of candidacies is past.
The current EC, which was reconstituted on February 4, 2007 by the military backed caretaker government, repeatedly criticised previous ECs for not enforcing the erstwhile electoral laws and rules.
Now the critic itself faces the challenge of strictly enforcing the new electoral law in the first ever elections to be held since the reconstitution of the EC.
The new electoral code of conduct promulgated by the current EC has been in effect automatically since the announcement of the poll schedule on June 20, and according to it city corporation and municipality polls are completely non-partisan.
But, since the announcement of the poll schedule, Awami League (AL), BNP and other political parties were holding formal meetings at central and grassroots levels regarding whether they would participate in or boycott the August 4 local government polls.
AL finally decided to ‘participate’ in the polls and since then it has been holding meetings in respective electoral areas and centrally of its forums and with its 14-party coalition components to nominate candidates for the local government polls either unilaterally or from the coalition, while BNP and its four-party alliance are still vociferously opposing the local government polls before the parliamentary one.
AL has even been making public announcements about its nominees, which have been flooding the media too.
BNP and four-party alliance are in the meantime having trouble dealing with rebel local leaders who are already preparing to participate in the August 4 polls.
Against such a backdrop, today is the deadline for submission of applications for candidacies.
Observers speculate that keeping with the tradition, candidacy seekers might show up with big noisy entourage of supporters at respective offices of returning officers today to file their applications, ignoring the new electoral code of conduct which bans such activities at the time of submitting applications.
Electoral law experts said since the new electoral law is already in force, collective decision of a political party to participate or not in local government polls is in clear violation of the law. They said whether political parties participate or not in the August 4 polls is ‘irrelevant’ as the elections are completely non-partisan.
According to the new electoral code of conduct promulgated by the EC, city corporation and municipality polls are completely non-partisan, and no candidate is allowed to use his or her political affiliation, the name or electoral symbol of the political party he or she is affiliated with, and portrait of any political leader in an electoral campaign.
Election Commissioner Sohul yesterday however said the commission does not consider political parties’ manoeuvring in connection with the city corporation and municipality polls a violation of the electoral rules until the final selection of candidates.
In defence of the EC’s position, the election commissioner said political parties have been traditionally carrying out such activities centring local government polls. “In the past, the activities used to be carried out discreetly, but this time around they are not being that discreet,” he added.
But during previous local government elections the erstwhile electoral laws had no strict bar on disclosing candidates’ political affiliations and on using party backings in the polls.
Sohul however added that the commission will take stern steps against any political party or politician who will campaign for candidates in the local government elections after the finalisation of the list of candidates.
Sohul, who on Sunday had told The Daily Star that the commission would discuss whether the political parties’ activities centring the August 4 polls need to be stopped or not, yesterday however said the commission has yet to discuss the matter of enforcing the electoral rules.
Asked whether use of political parties’ offices for purposes of local government polls violates the electoral code of conduct, Sohul said use of party offices is illegal and the commission will take stern actions against such practices.
He however added that the commission so far did not receive any complaint regarding such use of political parties’ offices.
But the media already reported that political party leaders are regularly holding meetings in party offices in the four city corporation areas for polls purposes and even declaring their nominations for candidates from there.
About AL’s decision to ‘join’ the city and municipality polls, Sohul said ‘it is a very positive decision’.
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