EC denies allegation of controlling politics

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday dismissed the allegation against the commission of trying to control political parties through the proposed provision of mandatory registration for them.
"We have already talked with three political partiers and will talk with twelve others. Essential decisions regarding registration of the parties will be taken after the dialogues," the CEC said at a views exchange meeting in Chittagong ahead of preparing a fresh voter list with photographs and national identity cards for Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) area.
Regarding the demand of some political parties for not allowing theocratic obscurantist political parties to be registered as parliamentary parties, the CEC said the commission does not have the jurisdiction on the matter as it is a political issue that needs to be resolved in the political arena.
Meanwhile two other election commissioners, Muhammed Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (retd) Sakhawat Hussain, defended an Election Commission (EC) proposal for reviving its power to punish a person for contempt of the commission. They also rejected the allegation of trying to control political parties.
"We felt a necessity for including the provision on contempt of the commission in our reform proposals," Sohul told reporters in his office in the capital yesterday, adding, "The proposals will be finalised after the dialogues with the political parties."
Election Commissioner Sakhawat said they are working to strengthen the EC.
The EC had been empowered through an ordinance to punish any person for contempt of the commission before the 2001 parliamentary election, sparking widespread criticism against it, in the face of which the erstwhile president repealed the provision by promulgating another ordinance.
Our Chittagong correspondent reported that at the views exchange meeting in the Theatre Institute of Chittagong (TIC) auditorium, CEC Huda said registration of political parties is a must to ensure transparency and accountability in them.
Regarding the demand of some political parties for not allowing theocratic obscurantist political parties like Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh to register as contestants in elections, the CEC said the commission does not have the authority to take a decision on the matter.
"We have nothing to do with the matter as it is a political issue and the political forces should resolve it," Huda said.
Some political parties participated in joint movements with theocratic parties while some others formed a government with them, he said adding that it is a matter of them and not EC's.
There is no scope of denying the right to registration to any theocratic political party, said the CEC.
He urged the people of all sections to help the EC in completing the work of preparing a correct and proper fresh voter list with photographs on time.
The work of field level data collection through door to door visits in 41 wards under CCC will start on October 22 while the data entry and the work of voter registration with digitised photographs is scheduled to begin on November 5, sources in the District Election Office said.
At the meeting senior officials of the local administration and election officials were also present.
Meanwhile election commissioners --- Sohul and Sakhawat --- said the EC is not trying to control the parties.
"We never want to control the political parties. We just want to ensure financial transparency and practice of democracy within them," Sohul told reporters in his office in the EC Secretariat.
Echoing Sohul, Election Commissioner Sakhawat said financial transparency and accountability is an imperative within the political parties that will contest to run the country.
"In absence of a system of registering the political parties, the Election Commission does not have any information about them. But once the registration will be done, the political parties will be officially obliged to inform the commission about any change in themselves," he said.
Both the election commissioners said once the registration system is introduced, the political parties will have to submit their annual audit reports of incomes and expenditures.
They said a number of political parties applied to the EC expressing their interest in sitting in dialogues with the commission on electoral reforms. Now, the EC is seeking some information about the parties to see whether they are eligible for invitations to the talks, they added.
In response to the applications, the EC Secretariat on last Thursday sent letters seeking information from the interested parties, to scrutinise their eligibility for invitations in light of the EC's set criteria.
To be eligible for an invitation to the talks, a political party must have secured at least one parliamentary seat in any general election since Bangladesh's independence, or it must have secured at least 2 percent of cast votes in any general election since the independence, or it must have committees in 32 districts and in all upazila headquarters under those districts with a minimum of 1,000 members in each district unit and 200 members in each upazila unit.
"Political parties meeting the criteria will be invited for the talks," Election Commissioner Sohul said.
He also said the commission sent a reply to a BNP's letter which had alleged that the EC has been showing reluctance in communicating with the party regarding the dialogues. "We informed BNP that the allegation is not correct," Sohul said.
BNP recently submitted a letter to the chief election commissioner alleging that the EC has been showing reluctance in communicating with it based on the opinions of the loyalists of expelled BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan. Senior officials in the EC Secretariat however said they have yet to send a reply to BNP's allegation.