Only two among the over six dozen prospective political parties applying for registration are likely to receive approval ahead of the 11th parliamentary election due in December, according to Election Commission (EC) sources.
“We have recommended two parties for approval. Applications of most of the prospective parties might be rejected as they failed to meet necessary conditions for registration,” EC Additional Secretary Mokhlesur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune.
He, however, declined to name the two parties that are likely to receive the EC’s approval.
Earlier, citing EC sources, different media outlets published reports saying that none of the prospective parties would receive approvals ahead the polls.
Pressed to comment on the reports, Mokhlesur said: “This is not true at all. No such decision has been taken as yet. Also, the EC did not even discuss such things.”
“Many processes have yet to be complied. The parties seeking to register with the Commission will be verified and investigated in accordance with information they have provided. After that, we will publish a notice in national newspapers, seeking to know whether anyone has objections against the selected parties. Then, the final decision will be made.”
EC Deputy Secretary Abdul Halim Khan, who is in charge of the registration work, said: “We have already completed our work. The selected parties will be informed after we receive the Commission’s nod.”
Earlier, officials at the EC said they had received applications from a total of 76 prospective political parties, and 56 of them were primarily selected after scrutiny. From the verified list, applications of nine parties were dropped as those were found incomplete.
The EC was scheduled to release the list of approved political parities by March this year, but it failed to do so even after two months past the deadline.
The Commission is still scrutinizing applications of some of the parties, even though the verification process was supposed to end by February.
Expressing anger over the slow processing of applications, leaders of these potential parties said the delay in processing applications would hamper the level-playing field, an essential element for a free and fair election.
