Bangladesh News

The Election Commission (EC) yesterday extended the time limit by five days for the political parties to apply for registration.

This means the closing date for applications now is October 20.

The time extension came in response to the demands of BNP and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami.

The commission, however, still faces some difficulties as interim constitutions of Awami League (AL) and Jatiya Party(JP) contain provisions contradicting the registration criteria.

AL that yesterday finalised its provisional constitution to get registered with the EC retained the clauses allowing chapters abroad and associated organisations consisted of students and workers.

Okayed on Sunday, Jatiya Party’s constitution still has the provision that grants its parliamentary board an absolute authority to nominate candidates for general election, JP insiders said.

According to the revised Representation of the People Order (RPO), political parties seeking registration must sever ties with their front organisations and overseas chapters. They must pick contenders from panels selected by their grassroots .

BNP, meanwhile, remains opposed to discarding the provision for front organisations made up of students, teachers, workers and professionals.

A delegation of the party that met the EC Sunday argued strongly in favour of the provision, said meeting sources.

Meanwhile, AL is set to apply to the EC for registration tomorrow, said party sources. It already has necessary documents ready. Those include a provisional constitution with some amendments geared towards meeting the registration criteria.

Its electoral ally Jatiya Party is likely to apply today.

Officials at the EC Secretariat said the toughest challenge for them might come from Jamaat-e-Islami, a key component of the BNP-led four-party alliance.

The party’s aims and objectives clearly run counter to those in the country’s constitution, the supreme law of the land.

Though Jamaat has already drafted a set of proposals for amendments to its constitution, its leaders said they would not compromise on their aims and objectives to establish Islamic rule in the country.

When his attention was drawn to the matter, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda Sunday said: “Let them submit their applications first.”

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain said the EC will ask the parties to amend their constitutions again if any provision is found to be at odds with the revised RPO.

EC Secretariat officials said if a provisional constitution contains any provision that goes against the registration criteria, the party concerned will not be allowed to register until the contradiction is ironed out.

Announcing the EC’s decision to extend the time limit for registration applications, CEC Huda yesterday said the commission will not change its plan to complete registration by October.

BNP and Jamaat on Sunday formally asked the EC to extend the time limit by a week.

Islami Oikya Jote and Bangladesher Jatiya Party (BJP), the other two components of the four-party, too applied to the EC for time extension yesterday.

Most of the political parties had been vehemently opposed to the registration criteria laid down in the RPO revised by an ordinance on August 19.

As most of the registration conditions call for amendments to party constitutions, they said it was not possible for them to amend the constitutions through national councils at such short notice.

In the face of the political parties’ demands, the RPO was amended again on October 8 to ease the registration procedure.

The latest changes allow the parties to make do with provisional constitutions. But in that case they must pledge that they would ratify the amendments at councils within six months since the first sitting of next parliament.