Khaleda refuses to be voter while in jail

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Detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia yesterday again declined to register herself as a voter from behind bars, passing the last chance for it in the capital city area.

Advisers to the military backed caretaker government on Sunday however said Khaleda Zia will be released ‘unconditionally very soon’ as the government completed all procedures for it.

Khaleda, also the BNP chairperson, will not be eligible to contest in the upcoming parliamentary poll if she is not registered as a voter in any of the constituencies, according to the planned electoral reforms.

The specified 15 days for inclusion of names of left out prospective voters on the voter list for Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and Dhaka cantonment areas ended yesterday, receiving over 7,000 applications for registration.

But, Khaleda stuck to her refusal to become a voter, when the jail authorities went to the sub-jail on the parliament building premises to persuade her to register.

“We requested her earlier and have requested today to register herself as a voter. But she said she won’t become a voter from jail,” said Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Prisons Maj Shamsul Haider Siddique.

“I’ll be a voter only after my release,” the DIG Prisons quoted the detained BNP chairperson as saying.

At least 10 VIP detainees already applied for being registered as voters, he added.

According to the Electoral Rolls Rules 2008, there is no more scope for Khaleda to become a voter in the capital city area unless the rules are amended.

Senior officials of the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat however claimed that the EC may register Khaleda Zia as a voter at any time, exercising its discretionary power.

The council of advisers to the caretaker government already approved a number of amendments to the Representation of People’s Order 1972 with a provision that an aspirant contestant must be a voter in any of the constituencies to be eligible to contest in the parliamentary poll.

On hearing about the planned law, Khaleda had expressed her wish to know about it in detail, prompting the DIG Prisons to visit the EC Secretariat on Sunday and collect a copy of the planned law, which he gave to the former premier.

About Khaleda Zia’s persistent refusal to register herself as a voter from behind bars, Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain said yesterday noon that the commission requested the authorities concerned to inform her about voter registration and she might become a voter after considering it.

“The process of becoming a voter is a legal matter,” the election commissioner told reporters in his office.

Since the beginning of voter registration in the capital city at the end of last year, Khaleda Zia has been refusing to become a voter from behind bars. The jail authorities on several occasions requested the detained former prime minister to register, but she declined.

Another former prime minister also AL chief Sheikh Hasina, who had also been detained prior to her departure for abroad, however had registered herself as a voter from behind bars.

On July 27, the EC published the draft voter list for DCC and Dhaka Cantonment Board areas, providing the last chance for left out eligible residents to register as voters for the upcoming 9th parliamentary and city corporation elections.

According to the electoral rolls rules, an individual had 15 days till yesterday, to apply for registration.

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