Bangladesh News

Seven judicial enquiry committees have been formed to probe allegations of undue influence and irregularities in the elections to the same number of upazila parishads on January 22.

Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain disclosed it to journalists at his office yesterday.

The seven upazilas are Araihazar of Narayanganj, Mehendiganj of Barisal, Banchharampur of Brahmanbaria, Muradnagar of Comilla, Raipura of Narsingdi, Kaliganj of Gazipur and Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar.

The probe bodies headed by district and sessions judges were formed with the Supreme Court’s approval.

“The probe bodies will submit their reports within 15 days,” the election commissioner said.

Investigation into the alleged irregularities in the polls to another nine upazila parishads will also start soon.

On receipt of the inquiry reports, the EC will decide the fate of elections to those upazila parishads.

Election results of the 13 upazila parishads remain suspended for inquiry.

PARTIES TO BE ASKED FOR RATIFYING PROVISIONAL CHARTERS
The Election Commission (EC) is likely to remind political parties formally this week of the legal provision of ratifying their provisional constitutions after holding national councils by July 25 to keep their registration with the EC effective.

Thirty-eight political parties including Awami League, BNP, Jatiya Party and Jamaat-e-Islami got registered submitting provisional constitutions with the promise to ratify the changes in their constitutions in six months since the first sitting of the new parliament.

According to the registration laws for political parties, the parties will have to ratify their constitutions by July 25 as the ninth parliament began its journey on January 25.

“We shall ask the political parties to follow the registration laws. We shall send them letters in this regard by this week,” a senior official of the EC Secretariat told The Daily Star.

Prior to the ninth parliamentary elections, the immediate past caretaker government introduced the mandatory registration system for the political parties for contesting the polls.

Political parties needed to bring changes in their constitutions to meet a set of criteria for getting registered with the EC. But it was not possible for them to amend their constitutions because of shortage of time and enforcement of the state of emergency.

In such a situation, the registration laws were amended again with a provision for allowing parties to get registered by submitting provisional constitutions with the necessary changes.