Archive for December 4th, 2008
Thursday, December 4th, 2008Awami League (AL) has drafted its electoral manifesto with promises to publish wealth accounts and sources of income of the prime minister, ministers, lawmakers and their families to ensure transparency of those in government.The party says containing price hike of essentials will be its top priority if voted to power.It will ban the use of religion in politics, and bring the war criminals to justice.To fight the graft menace, it will allow the Anti-Corruption Commission to function independently.“Some kind of truth and accountability commission may also be considered to investigate corruption of the last seven years,” reads the draft ...
(read more) Thursday, December 4th, 2008The nomination papers of some bigwigs of various political parties, who filed nominations as party nominees and independent candidates in constituencies across the country, were cancelled yesterday, the first day of scrutiny of nomination papers.The returning officers (RO) cancelled their nominations on various grounds including conviction in corruption cases, defaulting on bank loans and utility service bills, giving wrong information and document forgery.Some of the nomination papers had also been withheld and the ROs will decide on those today, the last day of scrutiny.The aspirants whose nomination papers were cancelled include former BNP state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, Proshika ...
(read more) Thursday, December 4th, 2008Forty-two of the 130 loan-defaulters are going to contest the national polls securing legal protection, according to yesterday's information from the Credit Information Bureau (CIB) of the Bangladesh Bank.Meanwhile, the High Court (HC) yesterday directed the Election Commission (EC) and the government not to disqualify BNP candidate for Dhaka-12 constituency Advocate Khandaker Mahbub Uddin Ahmed as a loan-defaulter.Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday told reporters: "As a citizen of the country I don't want the loan-defaulters to take part in the elections. But the government has nothing to do if they contest through the loopholes in the laws."Bangladesh Bank Executive ...
(read more) Thursday, December 4th, 2008In continuation of last fiscal year's slow progress, only 13 percent of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) has been implemented in the first four months of the current fiscal year.Though the development expenditure is slow, pace of revenue expenditure is faster due mainly to higher rates of interest payment by the government against both domestic and foreign borrowing.In the last fiscal year the implementation rate was 11 percent in the first quarter. However, sources say though the implementation this year is 2 percent higher, for the first time the size of ADP was downsized over that of previous year.The ADP ...
(read more) Thursday, December 4th, 2008In breach of the electoral laws, the Election Commission (EC) yesterday asked the political parties to rank their picks for a constituency in order of preference, and inform the returning officers about it during the scrutiny of nominations.The Representation of the People Order (RPO) says a party having more than one nominee against a seat must give the ROs a single name before the scrutiny starts.“Provided that any registered political party may primarily nominate more than one candidate and if more than one candidate is nominated, the name of one nominated candidate shall be sent to the Returning Officer in ...
(read more) Thursday, December 4th, 2008The Election Commission (EC) should at least warn the political parties against violating the electoral laws if it does not cancel candidature, Shushashoner Janney Nagorik (Shujan) said yesterday.The EC should also compel the political parties to make public the standards in nominating candidates, it said at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity in the capital.Awami League (AL) partly complied with the electoral rules that candidates should be nominated on the basis of the grassroots leaders' opinion but other major parties, including BNP, Jatiya Party and Jamaat-e-Islami had not taken any initiative in this regard, Shujan observed."Electoral laws were violated ...
(read more) Thursday, December 4th, 2008A resident in Bogra town alleges that four-party alliance candidate for Bogra-1 (Sariakandi-Sonatola) constituency Mohammad Shokrana has concealed information in the affidavit submitted with his nomination papers.Anisuzzaman Mintu in a written allegation submitted to Returning Officer and Deputy Commissioner Humayun Kabir said Shokrana did not mention that he was accused in a case in 1974.He said Shokrana, the then Jubo League leader, in August 1974 trained his gun on a minister of the then Awami League government and a case was filed against him with Bogra police on August 9.Former JSD leader Anisuzzaman Mintu also alleged Shokrana was jailed for ...
(read more) Thursday, December 4th, 2008At least 12 students were injured yesterday in a clash between the activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) over capturing a seat at a hostel on Rajshahi Medical College (RMC) campus.Following the clash, the RMC authorities suspended all academic activities indefinitely and asked both the male and female students to vacate hostels by 4:00pm yesterday.Sources said the clash erupted at Shaheed Shah Mainul Ahsan Pinku Hostel early yesterday when a group of Shibir activists led by its college unit president Abu Talha and secretary Anwar Hossain tried to capture the seat of a BCL activist ...
(read more) Thursday, December 4th, 2008The global financial crisis is distracting attention from other pressing issues such as rising food and energy prices, and environmental damage, Nobel peace laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus told AFP yesterday.The Bangladeshi economist warned that not addressing those other issues would lead to a "much bigger crisis ahead" that would have political and financial implications."What we see as a financial crisis is a part of many more crises, which are going on simultaneously in 2008," Yunus said in an interview at a summit of business leaders in London."You remember the food crisis? It's still on, it didn't disappear. Simply, this became ...
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