The cabinet on Monday approved the draft of the amendment to the Representation of the People’s Order (RPO) 1972, increasing candidates’ expenditure in national elections from Tk1.5m to Tk2.5m and exempting the travel expenses of the heads of political parties outside their constituencies for election purposes from their personal election expenditure.
It raises a candidate’s security deposit to Tk20,000 from Tk10,000.
The amendment proposes disqualifying war criminals from contesting parliamentary elections.
The approval came at the weekly meeting of the cabinet at the Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters that once the RPO was amended, people found guilty by the International Crimes Tribunal would not be able to participate in parliamentary polls.
Asked if those who had appealed against their conviction would be eligible to contest the general election, he said there was nothing as such in the proposed amendment and it was a matter of “clarification” of the law.
Earlier, a cabinet meeting on September 2 had approved a proposal to erase the names of convicted war criminals from the voter list.
The International Crimes Tribunal has so far found six people guilty of war crimes and sentenced four of them to death. Five of the convicts have appealed against the verdicts.
The amendment also proposes increasing the ceiling of donation by an individual to the fund of a political party to Tk2.5m from Tk1m and that by a company or association to Tk5m from Tk2.5m. The fee for filing any election related case has also been increased to Tk5,000 from Tk2,000.
The draft RPO proposes that the polling officers should be appointed from their own constituencies.
Responding to a question about the formation of Election Commission, Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain referred to the 15th Amendment to the Constitution and said the draft law mentioned that the EC would be formed with one chief election commissioner and maximum four commissioners.
The draft law proposes that a candidate can withdraw his/her candidature himself/herself or by the party.
In its original draft, the EC had proposed barring rebel members of political parties from taking part in parliamentary elections, but the cabinet did not discuss the issue. Asked about the matter, the cabinet secretary told the Dhaka Tribune that the cabinet had discussed the proposal sent by the law ministry, not that of the EC, and that the ministry had not included the proposal regarding rebel candidates.
The draft law also proposes that all orders of the EC regarding transfer of government officials should be executed at the earliest possible time.
The EC had sent the amendment proposal to the law ministry on July 25 for vetting.
The cabinet on Monday also approved the draft of the Multi-level Marketing (MLM) System (Control) Act 2013 with a provision for appointing a registrar for MLM businesses, said the secretary.
According to the draft, the registrar of the Joint Stock Companies would act as the registrar of MLM companies, he said, adding that the law would make MLM businesses more accountable and transparent and check fraudulent practices so that people were not cheated.
The cabinet also endorsed the draft of Asian Re-insurance Corporation Act 2013 to reinforce an ordinance, which had been promulgated during a military regime but had become defunct with the cancellation of the Fifth Amendment in 2010. A report on the activities of various ministries and divisions for 2012-13 fiscal year was also placed at the cabinet meeting.