& 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 to ease party registration rules

Asks govt to leave the latest revision to ordinance alone, also criticises govt for not letting it ring enough changes in electoral laws

Staff Correspondent
The Election Commission (EC) yesterday announced it will ease the procedure for registration of the political parties, and said it can do nothing more about the issue, a sucking point in electoral negotiations.
Chief Election Commission (CEO ATM Shamsul Huda made the announcement at a press briefing at the EC Secretariat s conferenceroom.
He criticised the government for not allowing enough electoral reforms.
He said the commission had proposed a number of reforms in the electoral laws to bring about a qualitative change in politics in line with the aspiration of 1 /11..
But, he added, the government did not let it happen as it gave priority to the opinions of political parties.
The polls chief said the EC will send a set of proposals to the government in a day or two for amend-ments to the revised Representation of the People Order (RPO). The proposals include the one for relaxing the registration procedure.
He asked the caretaker administration not to rework the proposals this time.
“The government should accept them (proposals) as they are. They can’t be changed as they've been prepared after the third round of discussions with the political parties. Any alteration would call for further talks."
Referring to the move to make the registration easier, Huda said, “We have made whatever concessions we could. There's no room to do anything more. That's it."
If the revised RPO is amended according to the new proposals, the political parties will not have to
organise national councils to amend their constitutions to meet the registration criteria.
Those unable to hold councils now can register with the EC on making provisional changes to theirconstitutions.
But their highest policymaking bodies must pass a resolution to have the changes ratified at national councils within six months since the first sitting of ninth parliament.
Detailing the proposal on registration, die CEC said, “The parties will have to attach the resolution papers to their registration applications.”
He said the government will amend the RPO in line with the fresh proposals in a week.
“The political parties must get registered to contest the polls. We can do nothing more about it before the national polls. We don't want to remain stuck in the issue,” headded.
He observed that registration is a prerequisite for polls free from influences of black money and muscle power.
The commission has all along been arguing that registration will ensure financial transparency and democratic practices within the parties. Besides, it will help the election officials to better manage the electoral tasks as only the registered parties will be allowed to contest polls.
According to the EC’s time limit, a political part}' must apply for registration by October 15.
The caretaker government last month promulgated an ordinance revising the RPO. The new provisions made registration mandatory for those seeking election to parliament
To meet the criteria set down by the RPO, most of the political parties will have to amend their constitutions and convene national councils for that.
The conditions for registration include, among others, severing ties with front organisations and chapters abroad.
A number of political parties including Awami League (AL) seek scrapping of some RPO provisions including the one that disallows front organisations and overseas units; the commission remains determined to enforce those.
Major parties like AL, BNP, and Jatiya Party (JP) describe the commission's time limit for registration as impractical. They maintain it is not possible to organise councils to amend constitutions at such short notice.
Besides, they say, the state of emergency makes this even harder.
The EC's latest proposals are part of its efforts to break the impasse over registration before the parliamentary polls slated for December 18.
The polls chief said. “We hope the proposals will be acceptable all round and the political parties will respond positively in the interests of the nation.”
About the parties who want to hold national councils now, the CEC said the commission has already discussed the matter with the government.
“The state of emergency will not be an obstacle to holding council and gathering thousands of delegates. The government will assist the parties in this regard," Huda said.
He said the ball now is in the court of political parties.
OTHER PROPOSALS
Of the other proposals, one says a registered political party will be allowed to spend a maximum Tk 1.5 lakh for each of its can didates.
If an unregistered party's candidate gets elected using electoral symbol of a registered party, he will be considered a lawmaker of the latter, says another proposal.
The EC will also propose that the government bring amendments to allow loan defaulters to contest the upcoming parliamentary polls by rescheduling their loans before filing nominations.
The amended RPO says someone defaulting on loans will not be allowed to run in the polls if he fails to reschedule his loans six months before filingofnomination.
Besides, there is a proposal to, clarify the restrictions on NGO officials seeking to stand in the parliamentary polls.
The RPO says a person shall be disqualified for election as or for being a member of [parliament] unless three years have passed since his retirement or resignation as chief executive officer of a nongovernment organisation.
The restrictions caused widespread criticism as they apply to all NGO chiefs regardless of if one receives salary from the organisation or not
According to the draft proposal in this regard, the provision will apply only to the salaried chief executives of the NGOs.
At yesterday's briefing, the CEC described the commission’s measures towards electoral reforms since reconstitution in February last year.
He said most of the new provisions are based on consensus between the EC and political parties. The only exceptions are those introducing the option for no-vote, requiring the parties to cut themselves off from overseas chapters and front organisations, and fixing a ceiling of up to Tk 15 lakh on a candidate's election expenditure [depending on the number of voters].
Election commissioners Muhammed Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain attended the briefing.