Major parties yet to apply for EC registration

Staff Correspondent

Only seven political parties, and no major ones, have so far applied for the registration with the Election Commission with only a week for the deadline to expire.
The Awami League has initiated preparations to submit the application after the interim cabinet on Monday approved further amendments to the amended Representation of the People Order.
Monday’s amendment to the order eased the criteria allowing the parties to get registered with draft amended party constitutions approved by their central committees.
But the other major party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, on Tuesday demanded further amendment to the order. BNP-led alliance partners, including the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, have also made similar demands.
The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on Tuesday said the commission was not worried about the time left and vowed not to extend the October 15 deadline.
On Monday, he said no further amendment to the Representation of the People Order would be made.
‘I have information and communications with big political parties that they are working to amend party constitutions as necessary. I hope major political parties will complete registration formalities in time,’ Shamsul told reporters on Tuesday in reply to a question about whether the commission would extend the time for registration.
Except for major political parties, 120 small parties and groups, including the newly formed parties, have collected forms and seven of them have applied for the registration, sources in the commission said.
While the Awami League is likely to collect forms for registration today, its rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is, however, standing its ground seeking amendments to the Representation of the People Order.
‘We are making preparations for party registration with the Election Commission,’ the acting Awami League general secretary, Syed Ashraful Islam, said after a meeting of the party presidium on Tuesday. ‘The working committee will sit on October 11 to make changes in the party constitution.’
A party delegation will meet the Election Commission today to discuss the new amendments to the electoral laws, Ashraf said.
The BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, said the government and the Election Commission must fulfil the party’s demand to repeal the amendment made in August to the electoral laws regarding party registration.
‘The Representation of the People Order and electoral rules should be further amended in keeping with our demands,’ Delwar told reporters after a meeting of the BNP standing committee, the highest policymaking body of the party. ‘Many clauses in the order and electoral rules are contrary to holding elections in a free and fair manner.’
He, however, said the BNP wanted to participate in the forthcoming elections, but the authorities concerned must create a congenial atmosphere first. ‘We sat with the Election Commission. We will sit with the government. They must create a congenial atmosphere for participatory elections.’
The Communist Party of Bangladesh general secretary, Mujahidul Islam Selim, said, ‘Our party is ready to get registered and we will do this by the deadline.’
The Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, claimed the party had no problem in getting registered with the Election Commission. ‘Our constitution does not contain anything that can cause problem in getting registered. Our leadership is elected. We make decisions in consultation with the elected leaders. The accounts are audited regularly,’ he said.
Zahirul Islam, joint secretary general of the Jatiya Party faction led by Hussain Muhammad Ershad, said, ‘We have made all preparations for the party registration.’
The seven parties which applied for registration are Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Janata League, Workers Party of Bangladesh, Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal (M-L), Liberal Democratic Party, Freedom Party, National People’s Party, and the Jatiya Party led by Anwar Hossain Manju.
The commission on August 27 issued a notice inviting political parties to apply for registration in a prescribed form along with a number of documents, including bank statements and income sources.
The military-controlled interim government on Monday approved amendment to the electoral laws allowing the political parties to get registered without holding council sessions.
Now with the approval for the amendment to the earlier revised Representation of the People Order, political parties will be allowed to submit a provisional constitution to the Election Commission to get registered by October 15 and contest the December 18 parliamentary polls.
But six months inside the first sitting of the next parliament, the parties must ratify their constitutions by duly holding council sessions in line with the latest electoral laws that call for more ‘democratic’ practice within the parties.
The chief election commissioner endorsed the latest amendments to the Representation of People (amendment) Ordinance 2008 and said the second round of the RPO 2008 amendments would be gazetted by today.