& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

EC finalises proposals for electoral reforms

Shakhawat Liton
The Election Commission (EC) has finalised the much talked about electoral reform proposals with a set of stringent rules for parliamentary political parties, in an effort to ensure financial transparency and democratic practice within those organisations.
Once the proposals are made into laws, political parties intending to contest in the next parliamentary election will have to bring sweeping internal reforms to get registered with the EC
The proposals also suggest harsh punishments for violators of electoral laws.
According to the proposed laws, major political parties like Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Party will have to amend their constitutions and elect new committees through holding national councils since their current constitutions contain provisions which contradict the EC's proposals.
Wrapping up the electoral reform talks with political parties yesterday, the EC is now preparing to send the finalised proposals to the caretaker government for making those into laws, for bringing extensive reforms in the existing electoral system, sources in the commission said.
"We will just have a final skim through the proposals for sending those to the caretaker government next week," Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain told The Daily Star yesterday.
According to the EC's proposed law for political parties’ registration, a party seeking registration with the commission cannot have front organisations comprising students and teachers of educational institutions, and professionals of financial and commercial institutions, neither can it have overseas chapters.
The constitution of a party seeking registration with the EC will have to have a specific provision stating that it will not have any such front organisations, says the EC's proposal on party registration, which is being proposed to be made mandatory for parties seeking to contest in parliamentary polls.
So, major political parties like AL, BNP and Jatiya Party will have to amend their constitutions to sever their ties with front organisations, since their current constitutions allow them to have those.
A registered political party may lose its registration, it it continues to have those front organisations flouting the provision
The EC’s first basic proposed condition for registration says a political party- that won at least one parliamentary seat in elections since 1973 will be eligible for registration A party that does not meet the first condition will have to have offices and committees in at least 21 districtsand lOOupazilaswithat least 200 voters as members in each ot those units.
if a party- does not even meet the second condition, it must prove that it bagged at least five percent of the total vote cast in the constituencies it contested in elections since 1973, to be eligible for registration.
Political parties have been alleging that the EC is trying to have control over them, but the commission has repeatedly rejected the allegation saying the proposals are aimed at brining discipline and financial transparency in the parties.
FINANCIALTRANSPARENCY
A political party- registered with the EC-and contesting in parliamentary polls will have to maintain accounts of its income and expenditure at any scheduled bank since the announcement of the polling date.
A registered political party- may receive donations from individuals and institutions to build its fund. But an individual may donate no more than Tk 5 lakh or assets or services equal to that amount to a political party per calendar year while an institution may donate no more than Tk 25 lakh or services equal to that amount in a year.
A registered political party mayspend Tk 4 crore if it nominates over two hundred candidates, Tk 3 crore if it nominates over one hundred candidates, Tk 1.5 crore for one hundred candidates, and Tk 75 lakh for over 50 candidates.
"Expenditure of a candidate with a party ticket will be considered a part of the party's expenditure." the EC's proposal says.
Any violation of these provisions by any registered party will be considered an offence punishable with fines up to Tk lOlakh.
About submissions of election expenditure reports by political parties, the EC's proposals say, every party contesting in an election will have to submit its expenditure report to the commission within 90 dewHVfthepoITscompIefwm. - —*-
"It a political party fails to submit the expenditure report within the 90 days timeframe, the Election Commission may warn the party by providing it with another 30 days. If the party again fails to do so, the commission may- provide another 15 days with a fine of
Tk 10,000 for each of those 15 days And finally, the Election Commission may cancel the party s registration if the latter fails to submit the expenditure report at all,' the proposals say.
' If the registration of a political party is cancelled, none will be allowed to use the name of the party for registration with the Election Commission," the proposals assert.
The EC's proposals go on saying, the expenditure reports and other documents submitted by political parties contesting in an election will be kept open for a year, so the people may inspect the documents, and some of the documents will be posted on the EC website.
An election to a parliamentary seat will be declared null and void if the winner is later found to have submitted wrong information to the EQ” the proposals say.
Besides.* a registered political party will have to have its accounts audited annually by a chartered accounting firm and must send annual reports to the EC.
INTERNAL DEMOCRACY
Every political party seeking registration with the EC will have to have specific provisions in its constitution promising to follow democratic norms and conventions within itself.
A party will have to elect committees from the central to grassroots levels with specific intervals according to its constitution. Currently most of the major political parties do not follow even their own constitutions in electing parry committees.
A party- will have to have specific provision in its constitution promising to elect 33 percent women in each of its committees at all tiers by 2020.
In an effort to put a stop to the lucrative business of norflination sales, much popular in most of the major parliamentary parties, the EC proposed to primarily nominate a panel of prospective candidates of each party from every parliamentary constituency. Party members of grassroots level committees will nominate the panel and forward it to the party's central parliamentary board which will then pick the candidates for elections.
A party will have to report to the EC on a regular basis about its compliance with electoral laws, and must notify the commission if any change is brought to its structure or the constitution, the EC’s proposals say.
’Registration of a political party will be cancelled, if it fails to provide the information required by the Election Commission for three consecutive years,’’ the proposals say adding, "Besides, its registration will also be cancelled, if it does not contest in parliamentary polls for two consecutive years."
The EC also proposes laws empowering the government to cancel the registration of a political party, if necessary. It also proposes, if a party gets banned by the government, that party should not be eligible to get registered with the EC again.
TALKS WITH PARTIES
The EC held a series of dialogues with political parties to finalise the electoral reform proposals since ~5tepte'nibe?T7Gf LIst y-ear The talks were concluded on Sunday with a dialogue between the EC and Saifur-led faction of BNP, while Delwar-led pro-Khaleda faction of the party was left out.
The political parties, which in 2001 had strongly opposed the erstwhile EC's proposal for their registration, however did not reject it this time around, although they did suggest relaxing the criteria for registration.