Sections of the public have raised concerns that two new political parties that are seeking registration from the Election Commission may actually be proxy parties of Jamaat-e-Islami, a key ally of the BNP.
Representatives of the parties, however, deny any ties with anti-liberation forces, while members of the EC have said that they are in the process of scrutinizing documents submitted by 77 parties, including the two with alleged ties to Jamaat, that are seeking registration.
The two parties in question are the Bangladesh Development Party (BDP) and Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party).
The High Court in 2013 invalidated Jamaat's registration as a political party due to crimes against humanity committed by some of its members during the Liberation War of 1971. The EC issued a notice cancelling Jamaat's registration ahead of the 11th National Assembly elections on October 29, 2018.
Jamaat is also blamed for having ties to religious extremists and militant groups.
BDP Chairman Anwarul Islam Chan recently said the party embodies the spirit of the Liberation War and does not share the same ideology as Jamaat or any other fundamentalist elements.
However, he admitted that the party includes former members of Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, as well as Chhatra League, Chatra Dal, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, and Islami Chhatra Andolon.
“No person directly accused of being a Jamaat member or war criminal is in the BDP,” he added.
BDP General Secretary Nizamul Haque had been part of Chhatra Shibir. He was also the financial member secretary of a thana level committee of civil rights body Susashoner Jonno Nagorik (SHUJAN).
Meanwhile, former Jamaat leader AFM Solaiman Chowdhury, who resigned from the party, is now the convener of the bAB Party.
Jamaat Central Majlis-e-Shura Member and former central president of Chattra Shibir Mujibur Rahman Manju, who was expelled from Jamaat, is a member secretary of AB Party.
Representatives of the AB Party could not be reached for comment.
A political party needs to meet at least one of three conditions in order to qualify for registration. The first condition is that it must have secured at least one seat under its electoral symbol in any parliamentary election since independence.
The second condition is for the party to have secured 5% of the votes in the constituencies in which its candidates contested.
To meet the third condition, the party must have a functional central office with a central committee, and offices in at least one third of all administrative districts and in 100 upazilas or metropolitan thanas. The party must have at least 200 members in each upazila.
The BDP chairman said the party had focused on the third condition in their bid for registration.
EC sources said the commission is in the process of scrutinizing applications from 77 political parties, including BDP and AB Party.
A committee headed by EC Additional Secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath is scrutinizing the applications under the supervision of Election Commissioner Md Alamgir.
Members of the committee on Wednesday told Dhaka Tribune the commission has not granted registration to any party that has been accused of war crimes or is in conflict with the Constitution.
The EC has been providing registration to political parties since 2008 in line with The Representation of the People Order, 1972, they added.
Ashok Kumar Debnath, additional secretary to the EC, said the registration of political parties that break the law would be cancelled, and the decision would be based on reports from the field.
He added that BDP and AB Party had been selected for the primary list, but they would be dropped if the information they have provided cannot be verified.
The official declined to comment on alleged ties between the parties and Jamaat.