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EC seeks to curb use of black money in JS polls

Proposes further amendments to electoral laws

Shakhawat Liton
The Election Commission has proposed sweeping changes to the electoral laws for checking the use of black money in parliamentary election and stern action against candidates for concealing facts or giving false information in affidavits.
If the proposals are turned into laws, the EC has to engage teams to monitor the candidates' daily expenditure during the election campaign to see whether they misuse the money permitted for electioneering or spend beyond the limit.
Every candidate or his election agent has to submit a report to the designated election official in a constituency each week during the elec-
tion campaign. This will be an additional provision to the existing one for submitting report on election expenditure to the EC after the polls.
The new provisions have been proposed for keeping the election expenditure within the permitted limit, said the outgoing EC. The commission finalised the proposals that will be sent to the law ministry on Monday.
It, however, proposed increasing a candidate's election expenditure to a maximum of Tk 25 lakh from Tk 15 lakh "considering the reality." But a candidate will not be allowed to hold more than one public meeting in a constituency as the EC suggested tightening restrictions on the use of election funds.
The EC seeks to allow voters and contesting candidates to lodge complaints any time during or after the polls against candidates for concealing facts or providing false information in affidavits.
A candidate will be disqualified for contesting the polls and even an elected one will forfeit parliament membership for providing false information or concealing facts in the application for candidacy and affidavit to the returning officer.
Any candidate or voter in a constituency may file a complaint with the EC against a candidate for concealing facts or giving false information in the affidavit.
But there will be no time frame for filing such complaint. They may submit it during the election or even during the tenure of parliament constituted through the election.
The EC will investigate the complaint. If the allegations are proven, the candidate's election results will be cancelled. His or her seat in parliament will be declared vacant and fresh polls will be held to the vacant seat, say the EC proposals.
The EC favours this stringent provision as it has failed to take action against two lawmakers in the current parliament for either concealing facts or giving false information in their affidavits during the last parliamentary polls.
In the run-up to the last parliamentary polls, a provision was introduced asking candidates to provide eightpoint information in affidavits that include their educational and police records. The EC publicises the information to help voters know about the candidates.
The proposals leave scope for political parties to prevent dissidents from "revolting" against party-nominated candidates in the polls. They suggest allowing a party to initially nominate more than one candidate in each constituency and pick one on or before the day of withdrawal of candidacy.
If a nomination aspirant finally fails to get party ticket, he or she will not have any scope for contesting the election. The person will be deemed to have withdrawn candidacy.
However, a dissident leader of a party can contest the polls only if he files an application as an independent candidate in line with the prescribed conditions.
The EC backtracked from its draft proposal for restoring sweeping authority to the armed forces to perform election duties. The draft proposal in May last year suggested reinstating the authority that the defence forces were given in 2001.
The commission did not propose introducing a provision of state funding for political parties' election campaigns, as it did not get a favourable response from political parties during talks last year.
The EC, however, proposed enacting a law on formation of the EC.
It also suggested having a law on redrawing boundaries of parliamentary constituencies. In the draft law, the EC proposed setting the number of constituencies in the capital to a maximum of 10. Their number was raised to 15 from eight in the last demarcation of constituencies in 2008.
The EC also proposed bringing changes to the law for introducing electronic voting machines in parliamentary polls. The EC will decide whether EVM will be used on a limited or a large scale.