AHMED DEEPTO

In its application for registration with the Election Commission, Janatar Bangladesh Party has said its central office is located on the 12th floor of Darus Salam Arcade near the capital’s Paltan intersection.

However, a visit to the 14-storey building on June 25 found no sign of its office there. The 12th floor houses five travel agencies and eight law chambers.

Staff from two of the travel agencies said no political party by that name had any office in the building.

Contacted, Safiqul Islam Sabuj Khan, the chairman of the party, claimed that they no longer use the building.

“We have rented a new office on Box Culvert Road. We will have it ready for use within a few days.”

He, however, didn’t give the address of the new office.

Janatar Bangladesh Party is among 147 political parties that applied to the EC between March 10 and June 22 to get registered with it ahead of the upcoming national election. The EC on June 24 published a list of the parties.

Many of these parties exist on paper only. In the last week of June, The Daily Star visited the addresses of 13 parties in Paltan area that they mentioned in their applications to the EC. It found that nine had no central offices or even signboards at those locations, while four parties had offices on the same rooftop of a 15-storey building.

To get registered with the EC, a political party must meet at least one of three criteria that include having a functional central

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