BNP rights RPO wrongs

The problem of wording BNP had in its provisional amended constitution regarding severing its ties with 'associated' organisations of students and professionals was corrected yesterday, removing all barriers to its registration with the Election Commission (EC).
BNP Joint Secretary General Nazrul Islam Khan went to the EC Secretariat yesterday and made the correction making it clear that the party will not have any front or associated organisation.
"Now we have no problem in getting registered with the commission," he said on his way out of the secretariat.
Meanwhile, the EC is likely to miss its own October 30 deadline for completing registration of political parties as it is still going through the applications of a large number of parties that mainly exist only on papers.
Although primary scrutiny found that more than a half of the 107 parties that applied for registration failed to meet the basic requirements, the commission nonetheless is thoroughly scrutinising the applications to avoid complaints.
Earlier, the EC said it will complete registering parties before declaring the detailed poll schedule early next month. But now commission officials are saying the registration process might go on even after the announcement of the detailed poll schedule.
The officials said there are about 60 applications missing basic information about the parties, or required documents like constitutions and receipts of office rent payments, or they are not accompanied with pay orders for the registration fee, and those applications should be rejected outright.
Verifying the information the applicants provide is a time consuming work, they added.
There are also some applicant parties who are only regional or based on religions. They will not get registration as they do not meet the basic requirements demanded by the amended Representative of the People Order (RPO), said the officials.
Bangladesh Shonkhalaghu Gonotantri Party, Quran O Sunnah Bastabayan Party, Islamic Front Bangladesh, and Bangladesh Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian Democratic Party, and Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity are some of the applicants that will not be considered for registration.
"These parties will not be given the chance to argue their cases," said an EC official involved in scrutinising the applications, adding, "If they fail to meet the basic requirements like providing the constitutions or having required number of offices across the country, their applications will be rejected."
Getting registered with the EC has been made mandatory by the commission for political parties seeking to contest in the December 18 parliamentary election.
The EC has so far decided to register 13 parties, giving the first registration certificate to Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
The other parties that will get certificates soon are Awami League (AL), the Workers Party of Bangladesh, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Sammyabadi Dal, Jatiya Party (Ershad), Jatiya Party (Monju), Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu), National Awami Party (NAP), Gonotantri Party, Krishak Sramik Janata League (KSJL), and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
The EC decided to register Gonotantri Party yesterday while decisions about BNP, Islami Okiya Jote (IOJ), and JSD (Rab) are in the pipe line, the commission sources said.
The technical evaluation committee of the EC yesterday scrutinised some 15 to 20 applications.
"More or less, these parties met the requirements, but we need to verify the information they provided," a senor EC official told The Daily Star.
He said the commission over the last few days sent letters through fax and mail to its district and upazila offices to check whether the applicants have offices in 10 districts and in 50 upazilas.
KHALEDA VOTER
Election Commissioner M Sohul Hossain yesterday said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia may become a voter any time.
"If she wants, she can be a voter any time any day," he told reporters after meeting a delegation of USAID, European Commission (EC), Asia Foundation, International Republican Institute (IRI), and National Democratic Institute (NDI) officials in the commission secretariat.
The meeting, also attended by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda and Commissioner M Skhawat Hossain, decided to facilitate expediting the issuance of visas for foreign poll observers.
"We will talk to foreign and home ministries so that issuance of the visas is expedited," Sohul added.
Replying to a question, Sohul said chiefs of BNP and AL -- Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina -- will have no problem contesting in the election if they are not convicted by any court.
"We've told earlier that nobody will face problems, unless the person is convicted by a court," he said.
Asked whether the announcement of the detailed election schedule might be deferred due to the court hearing on the constituency redemarcation issue, Sakhawat Hossain said the EC has been observing the court proceedings, and expects the case to be resolved soon.
"Let's wait till November 2, and then it can be said whether the announcement of the schedule will be deferred or not.”