Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad Tuesday said the Election Commission (EC) is yet to finalise and take a decision over a primary draft of the electoral code of conduct procedures for the next parliamentary elections.
“We did not hold any meeting about the electoral code of conduct for the general elections and are yet to finalise the draft procedures. We have seen newspaper reports on this, but we are yet to reach any decision in this regard,” he told reporters at the EC secretariat.
When asked if the prime minister and ministers could be a part of the general election campaign according to the draft, the CEC claimed of not having any knowledge about it.
“The EC has changed electoral code of conduct for the parliamentary elections at different times and we are also planning to bring some changes,” he said.
He said there are some errors and glitches in the existing code and the EC will add or scrap some of them. It will only be clear after finalising the draft for electoral code of conduct of general elections, he said.
A senior EC official told the Dhaka Tribune that the primary draft would be presented at a full commission meeting, which is likely to be held within a day or two.
When asked about taking suggestions from the political parties, Kazi Rakibuddin said: “In case of any major changes in the procedures, we would hold talks with them.”
Meanwhile, the EC has prepared a primary draft procedure of the electoral code of conduct, according to which, if the next general election is held under a partisan government, the prime minister as the chief of the party, and 20 nominated ministers and/or state ministers and leaders would be able to participate in the election campaigns.
According to the existing electoral code of conduct, there is no chance for ministers, state minister and same rank government officials to participate in the election campaign.
According to the draft’s section-22, “Speaker, deputy speaker, chief whip and minister and state ministers, city corporation mayors and government officials having the same rank cannot participate in polls campaigns.”
However, if they are made candidates in the election then they can campaign at their own constituencies.
As per the 15th amendment of the constitution, the national election must be held within the 90 days after dissolving the parliament.
According to the constitution, the next election must be held within January 24 next year, 90 days after the current parliament dissolves on October 25 this year.
According to EC officials, it has taken initiatives to amend the political party and candidate electoral code of conduct for the next parliamentary polls in accordance to the 15th amendment.
The EC secretariat has already prepared the primary draft of electoral code of conduct procedures for candidates and political party and it has sent copies to the chief election commissioner and other commissioners.
