For the first time in the country’s history, political parties willing to contest in parliamentary polls must disclose sources of their funds at the time of newly mandated registration with the Election Commission (EC).
The parties must submit to the EC details of their bank accounts and sources of funds at the time of applying for registration by October 15 for the upcoming parliamentary poll, according to the new registration rules.
Authorised by the registration rules promulgated on Tuesday, the EC will check the authenticity of the documents submitted by the parties.
Through the move, the EC, for the first time, is going to know the sources of political parties’ funds, which have remained hidden so far creating room for unhealthy practices in politics.
Inviting applications from political parties for registration, the EC is now considering a number of ways for scrutinising the submitted documents, EC sources said.
“We are giving serious thoughts to the ways and means for scrutinising the documents,” Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain told The Daily Star yesterday.
The sources said the commission might ask the banks concerned to furnish it with political parties’ account statements.
The commission is also considering seeking assistance from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) for checking the authenticity of the financial statements, the sources added.
To scrutinise large contributions and their sources, the EC might seek assistance from intelligence agencies, one of the EC sources said.
The EC already announced that political parties willing to get registered with it must apply by October 15 for the next parliamentary poll, meeting a number of criteria including the financial ones.
The parties however will be exempted from the requirement of submitting financial audit reports of the immediate past year, as they were not registered with the EC during the period.
But after getting registration, every political party must submit yearly audit reports to the EC by July 15 of each year, according to the new rules.
The new provisions in the Representation of People’s Order (RPO) allow political parties, also for the first time, to receive donations or grants officially.
According to the new electoral law, a registered political party is entitled to receive donations or grants from any person, company, and group of companies.
A registered political party may receive a donation of Tk 5 lakh or property or service equivalent to it from an individual in a calendar year, while it may receive Tk 25 lakh or property or service equivalent to it from a company or an organisation in a calendar year.
No registered political party may receive any gift, donation, grant or money from any foreign country or any non-government organisation or from any person who is not a Bangladeshi citizen or from any organisation established or maintained by such a person, says the new electoral law.
In defence of the EC’s efforts to ensure financial transparency in political parties, the commission said the existing culture have been allowing political parties to collect funds from any source, but allegations of misusing the opportunities were raised against the parties.
Political parties including Awami League, BNP, Jatiya Party and Jamaat-e-Islami never disclosed the sources of their funds.
Only a few top leaders of the parties know about the sources, leaving almost all other party leaders, activists and the public in the dark.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda in a news briefing on Monday said ‘political parties have been facing difficulties in maintaining their accounts’.
“Transparency will be ensured once the system of registration of political parties is introduced,” the CEC added.
Political parties however have been vehemently opposing the EC’s move to register them before the stalled ninth parliamentary election planned for December, arguing that it is not possible for them to complete the preparations for registration ‘within such a short time’.
Under the circumstances, the EC is about to open a series of dialogues with 16 political parties on September 6 to discuss the matter of mandatory registration.
The erstwhile EC could not make political parties register with it before the 2001 parliamentary election due to strong opposition from them.
Categories: Bangla, Bangladesh, Bangladesh News, Bangladesh Politics
August 31st, 2008 at 6:00 am
“For the first time in the country’s history, political parties willing to contest in parliamentary polls must disclose sources of their funds at the time of newly mandated registration with the Election Commission (EC).”
Thanks to the Care Taker government for their courage to introduce such law.
“No registered political party may receive any gift, donation, grant or money from any foreign country or any non-government organisation or from any person who is not a Bangladeshi citizen or from any organisation established or maintained by such a person, says the new electoral law.”
I am sure the foreign so-called leaders (Bangladeshi origins) are happy with this law. Many of them work hard for their earnings but MP’s of Bangladesh, makes one visit and earns fortunes out of those so-called leaders living in foreign countries.