2 parties picked for registration
EC to finalise the list by June
The Election Commission has primarily selected 12 new parties for registration with the commission.
The commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal, initiated the registration process in May last year. Ninety-three political parties had applied.
Of the 12 political parties, Amar Bangladesh Party is founded by former leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami.
The 11 others are Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM), Bangladesh Humanist Party (BHP), Gono Odhikar Parishad, Nagorik Oikya, Bangladesh Sanatan Party, Bangladesh Supreme Party (BSP), Bangladesh Labour Party, Bangladesh Minority Janata Party (BMJP), Bangladesh People's Party (BPP), Democratic Party, and Bangladesh Liberal Democratic Party (BLDP).
The registration of the political parties will be finalised by June, EC Secretary Jahangir Alam said yesterday.
The secretary said in the first stage, a committee concerned recommended cancellation of applications of 14 out of 93 parties that sought registration. Two parties withdrew their applications. Later, the remaining 77 parties were given 15 days to provide additional documents. From there, the EC selected the 12 parties, he added.
Asked about the finalisation process, the EC secretary stated that after verification, the commission decided to collect information about the 12 parties from the field level.
For registration, a political party would need to meet at least one of three conditions.
The first condition is securing at least one seat with its electoral symbol in any parliamentary election held since the independence of Bangladesh.
The second condition is obtaining five percent of total votes cast in the constituencies in which its candidates took part in any of the national elections.
The third condition is having a functional central office, offices in at least one-third of the districts and offices in at least 100 upazilas or metropolitans. And the party must have a minimum of 200 members who are voters in each upazila.
Since 2008, a total of 44 political parties got registration and registrations of five political parties were cancelled.
Oikyabaddho Nagarik Andolan, Pragatashil Ganatantrik Party and Jatiya Ganatantrik Party lost their registrations as they failed to comply with the conditions of getting registration since 2018.
Besides, registration of the Freedom Party was cancelled in 2009 as it failed to provide the party charter.
Jamaat's registration as a political party was declared illegal by the High Court in 2013.
Following the verdict, the EC cancelled the party's registration in October 2018.