Ministry mum on EC proposal
The Election Commission has proposed formulation of a law with provisions for registration of political parties, auditing of their funds and imposition of ceiling on financial contributions to the parties by individuals and organisations.
The Commission sent the proposal to the Ministry of Law in October last year, acting Chief Election Commissioner Moshtaque Ahmed Chowdhury told The Daily Star on Saturday.
The government has, however, not yet taken any decision in this regard.
"Such a law is necessary to dissuade individuals and smaller groups who are not serious about polls, prevent big parties from receiving unlimited amount of money from business community and ensure transparency of the parties' income and expenditure process," the acting CEC said. "These would eventually help build a sound democratic system in the country."
Defining political parties, Article 152 of the Constitution says, "Political parties include a group or combination of persons who operate within or outside parliament under a distinctive name and who hold themselves out for the purpose of propagating a political opinion or engaging in any other political activity."
But there is no law to regulate political parties in the country in any way.
"Many countries including India, Pakistan and even Nepal have laws requiring political parties to be registered with their respective election commissions," said a top EC official. "In the absence of such a law in Bangladesh, the EC gets exposed to certain unnecessary complications every time the general elections come."
In the February 1991 general elections, the EC had to allocate symbols to 90 political parties. Of the parties, 15 did not field any candidate, 16 parties had only one candidate each and nine others only two candidates each.
In the June 1996 national polls, 119 political parties were allocated election symbols. Of those, 31 parties did not field any candidate, 33 fielded only one candidate each and 10 parties had only two candidates each.
"Many of these parties fared so poorly in the elections that statistics reflecting percentage of votes polled by each could only be expressed in fractions," the EC official said. 'It clearly indicates that a number of those parties did not deserve to be recognised as political parties' fit for contesting polls, he added.
The EC, however, categorically said, "Non-registration of a political party would not debar it from carrying on its political agenda. Registration with the EC is only a pre-requisite for participation in election as a political party."
The EC proposal said, "Election is a serious business in a democratic process. So the Commission should not recognise the non-serious individuals, associations or groups as active political parties and encourage them to take part in the national polls".
Insisting on 'certain legal guidelines for registration of political parties', the Commission said that for registration, a political party should submit to the EC, along with its name, address, constitution and leadership hierarchy, a verified list of 1000 members of the party with their serial numbers in the electoral roll, a copy of the statement describing its latest annual income and expenditure and the name and address of its appointed auditor with a written statement from him that he has accepted the appointment.
"The law should also authorise the Commission to strike off names of previously registered parties which have become moribund or extinct or those failing to abide by certain provisions to be laid down in the law," the EC proposal said.
The EC noted that 'there is a strong need for transparency in the collection of funds and the manner in which the funds are used by political parties'. So, 'the political parties may be made to publish their accounts annually for information of the members of the public and all concerned', while 'a ceiling may be imposed on the amount of contributions to be made to political parties by individuals and profit earning companies', the EC proposal said.
Emphasising the need for legal provisions regulating funds of political parties, the proposal said, "Absence of such a regulation allows political parties to use their unrestricted influence to raise funds and indulge in the use of these funds in any manner they dim fit. Affluent persons and business firms contribute huge sums to political parties in the hope that if elected to power, the party would squarely return such favours.
"Unrestricted and unregulated fund raising may, at times, make it difficult for a party in power to rise above the baneful influence of such big contributors and resolve the conflict between the public and the private interests."
In this regard, the Commission referred to a presidential observation made last year. "The political parties obtain huge funds from big bank loan defaulters and shelter them", President Shabuddin Ahmed noted while addressing the inaugural function of silver jubilee celebration of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management.
"To reduce the adverse effect of big money on politics", the EC suggested, "The legislators may also examine the feasibility of making the political parties maintain accurate accounts of their income and expenditure and get those audited every year by agencies approved by the Commission'.
The question of accountability or responsible behaviour of political parties is of paramount importance for successful working of democracy, the EC observes. "To facilitate both - organisation and accountability - existence of certain legal provisions has proved immensely helpful in many democratic countries."
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