Law Minister Shafique Ahmed has tabled in parliament proposals to amend to the electoral parent law stripping the convicted war criminals of their right to contest in polls in future.
The new proposed law Representation of the People (amendment) Bill, 2013 was placed on Monday as the Jatiya Sangsad resumed its session with a 10-day recess in absence of main opposition BNP and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami.
The bill was later sent to the parliamentary standing committee on law ministry for further scrutiny before its passage.
The standing committee recommendation is a must for enactment of the proposed law.
The Representation of the People Order RPO), 1972 is the basic law for the general elections. The Electoral Code of Conduct of 1973 is the rule made under the law promulgated by then president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in absence of parliament after the independence of Bangladesh.
On September 16, the law minister also tabled the Voters’ Roll (second amendment) Bill, 2013 to drop the convicted war criminals from the voters’ list amid absence of the opposition.
Fazle Rabbi Mia, chairman of the standing committee, on Monday tabled the recommendations on the voters’ roll amendment bill.
The bills are set to pass in the current session ending on October 24, the de facto last day of the Awami League-led ninth parliament, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury told the Dhaka Tribune.
The two war crimes tribunals have already convicted six persons, all former and current leaders of Jamaat. They are Abul Kamal Azad alias Bachchu Razakar, Ghulam Azam, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, Delawar Hossain Sayedee, Abdul Quader Molla and M Kamaruzzaman.
All of them will lose their voting and candidature rights after the passage of the two bills.
More opposition leaders have been awaiting trial for their alleged involvement in war crimes. Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and AKM Yusuf and the BNP’s Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Abdul Alim are the leading political figures facing the trials.
The constitution also contains a provision that debars the war criminals to lose the rights.
The RPO bill also proposed amending some other sections. In its proposal to amend section 16, the bill proposes that any political party fielding more than one candidate for a constituency must inform the returning officer concerned in writing the name of one candidate as its nominee before the last day of the withdrawal of nomination papers. The candidature of other contestants will not remain valid.
The returning officer will display a photocopy of the party decision over candidate selection.
The draft law proposed raising the amount of deposit for vying in the polls – Tk20,000 from the previous Tk10,000. It also increased the amount of electoral expense from Tk1.5m to Tk2.5m excluding the cost of countrywide tours of the chiefs of the political parties.
It also hikes the limits of donations of individuals and institutions for the parties. According to the proposal, a person can donate up to Tk2.5m, which is Tk1m at present. Similarly, donation for institutions has been proposed Tk5m from Tk2.5m.