No top parties want to free lawmakers in JS

Ruling Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina's stance that existing article 70 of the constitution should not be changed, runs counter to her party's electoral manifesto that promised more freedom for lawmakers.
The existing article 70 bars MPs from going against their parties' decisions in the House even if they do not agree with those. Any lawmaker in violation of article 70 will lose his or her parliament membership.
Participating in the talks on constitutional amendment with the parliamentary special committee on Wednesday, Hasina, also the premier, refrained from proposing amendment to the article.
At a post talks media briefing she said, "Article-70 will remain unchanged, otherwise the government will not have stability. Therefore, we do not want any amendment to this article."
The restriction put on MPs by article 70 is largely blamed for giving birth to a culture of flunkeyism in politics, in which ruling party MPs are quite often found blindly appreciating the performance of the executive branch of the state instead of discharging their oversight functions.
It has also been used as a major weapon by opposition political parties in continuing with their wholesale boycott of the House, since according to the article, if a party decides not to join the parliament proceedings, all of its lawmakers must follow suit to retain their memberships in the parliament.
The original article 70 of the 1972 constitution had imposed lesser restriction than the existing one.
During the one party regime of BAKSAL the restriction was tightened in 1975 through the 4th amendment, and in 1991 that was tightened some more by a BNP-led regime through the 12th amendment.
In the recent constitutional amendment talks with the parliamentary special committee, ruling AL allies Workers Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, and National Awami Party proposed for amending article 70 to allow MPs freedom to perform their duties as lawmakers, except on some specific issues like no-confidence motions against the cabinet.
Jatiya Party, another major component of the AL-led grand alliance, however refrained from proposing an amendment to the article, while main opposition BNP boycotted the talks altogether.
AL in the run up to the last parliamentary polls promised to take all necessary measures to make the House more effective, and to hold the executive branch of the state accountable for all its activities.
"Except for some specific subjects related to the security of the state, parliament members will be allowed to express differing opinions," says the AL electoral manifesto titled "the charter for change".
Changes to the article 70 is required to implement AL's electoral pledge, but the party chief does not want any change to the article, some members of the special committee told The Daily Star yesterday.
Hasina's stance might frustrate the parliamentary special committee's move to amend article 70 to relax the restrictions imposed on MPs, without hampering the stability of the cabinet.
The committee's members at a meeting on March 29 agreed in principle on two propositions.
One idea is to allow MPs to express differing opinions and cast votes against party decisions in the parliament except on some specific issues like no-confidence motion against the cabinet, finance bill, and matters related to state security.
A number of AL leaders who joined the talks with the special committee on Wednesday, and eminent jurists who joined the talks on Sunday, are also for amending the article without hampering the stability of the cabinet, committee sources said.
The special committee's second proposition is to restore the original article 70 of the 1972 constitution, as it imposed less restriction than the existing one.
The original article 70 of the constitution barred MPs from casting votes in the parliament against the party that nominated them during elections. If any MP violated it, he or she would lose parliament membership.
In 1991 the restriction was tightened some more through the 12th amendment by inserting an explanation, the framework of which had been set in 1975 through the 4th amendment.
The explanation says if any MP being present in parliament abstains from voting or remains absent in any sitting ignoring the direction of his or her own party, he or she will be deemed to have voted against own party.
With the incorporation of this explanation, the MPs' freedom was completely quashed giving them no alternative to marching in lockstep with party decisions.
Contacted by The Daily Star yesterday a member of the special committee said they will continue their efforts to bring necessary changes to article 70 to provide MPs more freedom to perform their duties independently in the parliament.
When another committee member also AL lawmaker's attention was drawn to the AL electoral manifesto, he said article 70 should be amended to implement the party's electoral pledge.
"The party chief did not put forward any specific proposal about article 70. We will however look carefully into what we can do in this regard," he said.
RESERVED SEATS
AL's another proposal for increasing reserved seats for women in the parliament to 50 from 45 also runs counter to the party's electoral pledge.
In the electoral manifesto, AL promised to increase the number of women's reserved seats to 100, and to introduce direct election to the seats.
But AL chief Hasina on Wednesday at the talks with the special committee proposed for adding only five more seats for women in parliament, and refrained from proposing direct elections.
In defence, she cited shortage of seats in the chamber of parliament. There are a total of 354 seats in the chamber. At present, the number of MPs is 345, and there are three technocrat ministers.