EC regrets BNP handling

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Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday apologised for the way the Election Commission (EC) dealt with BNP over its electoral dialogue with political parties last year.

He said sorry also for the delay in having new electoral provisions incorporated into Representation of the People Order (RPO).

Mentioning the invitation to pro-reform leader Major (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed instead of Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain for the electoral talks, he said, “What happened was unfortunate. I personally regret the decisions. None but we are to be criticised for those.”

The polls chief made the observations at a discussion on “Amendment of RPO and Elections. The programme was organised at the National Press Club by Media Initiative for Public Policy (MIPP), a non-government organisation.

In an about-face in its stance on BNP, the EC Friday invited Delwar to talks on registration of the political parties. In the invitation letter, Delwar was addressed as the BNP secretary general.

In November last year, against a backdrop of a long and bitter dispute between the factions over a slot in the electoral talks, the EC invited Hafiz, acting secretary general appointed by the standing committee at a controversial meeting on October 29.

The decision caused an uproar. Pro-Khaleda group led by Delwar rejected it outright while those siding with Saifur Rahman and expelled secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan trumpeted it as the recognition that they represent the mainstream BNP.

In defence, the CEC then said they had followed the ‘doctrine of necessity’ in deciding to invite Hafiz. He claimed the EC had taken the right decision and there was nothing to do about it.

He went on to say, “The BNP chairperson’s decision to expel Bhuiyan is not acceptable to us as well since appropriate procedure was not followed.”

Pro-Khaleda leaders filed a writ petition challenging the legality of the EC’s decision, and legal wrangling caused the commission’s preparations for RPO amendments to remain suspended for a long time.

Speaking at the discussion yesterday, leaders of major political parties said it would be difficult to hold national councils to amend their constitutions on such a short notice.

According to EC announcement, political parties must apply by October 15 for registration on meeting a set of criteria laid out in the revised RPO.

Major political parties including Awami League (AL), BNP and Jatiya Party have maintained that the deadline doesn’t allow them enough time to fulfil the conditions.

About the time constraints, Huda said, “If there were no troubles, we (EC) could have finalised the RPO two to three months ago.”

He said recruitments to the EC are very crucial to its independence. “If we set standards for the political parties, we must seek improved standards in the commission as well.”

He said the EC plans some measures including amendments to the existing laws to ensure reduced election expenditure. In the recent local polls, overt spending by the candidates came down, but transactions in secret could not be checked.

“Things will not change overnight; they will take a few more elections in the next five to ten years. We had hit rock bottom, and now we must come out of there,” the CEC observed.

Referring to an RPO provision, AL Presidium Member Suranjit Sengupta said allowing the expatriate Bangladeshis as voters while disallowing political parties having chapters abroad is contradictory.

About upazila elections, he said his party is not against the polls, but has objection to the timing. “What if the national polls are hampered due to the conduct of upazila polls first?”

BNP Joint Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan said there seems to be a lot of problems with regard to the RPO amendments, and it is because the revision was done without involvement of BNP.

Opposing the provision requiring the political party to sever ties with front organisations, he said students, workers, journalists and lawyers share a glorious history in politics and it is not right to dispense with the wings that represent them in politics.

“If there is no scope for workers’ representation in making laws, they will be deprived even more,” Khan said.

He also noted that the provision to get rid of overseas chapters of the political parties will not work as they will still be able to continue under other names.

Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Shakhawat Hossain, Barrister Rafiqul Haque, AL leader Amir Hossain Amu, Communist Party of Bangladesh leader Mujahidul Islam Selim, Jatiya Party leader Anisul Islam Mahmud and Brotee chief Sharmin Mursheed spoke at the discussion moderated by journalist Farid Hossain.

Pranab Saha, city editor of Bangla daily Prothom Alo, presented a concept paper.

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