The Election Commission Thursday sent the amendment proposal to the Representation of the People Order (RPO) to the law ministry for vetting, said Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad.
This is the fourth time that the EC has sent amendment proposal to the ministry. On the three previous occasions, the EC came up with more alterations after the ministry sent the proposals back after vetting.
According to the proposed amendments, rebel members of political parties will not be allowed to take part in parliamentary elections. If there are more than one application for candidature in a particular constituency, the party should finalise the candidate and inform the EC through a written notice.
The EC has replaced Bangladesh Rifles with Border Guard Bangladesh in the definition of law enforcing agencies in the law.
However, the name of the army was not accommodated in the definition.
According to section 12(d), any individual indicted by the International Crimes Tribunal will not be allowed to contest the polls.
The proposal also said anyone given two years’ jail under sections 73, 74, 78, 79, 80-84 and 86 of the Code of Criminal Procedure would be able to contest the parliamentary polls if five years have passed since the completion of the jail term. For those who have served one day in jail under the act, could run if two years have elapsed since the completion of the imprisonment.
According to the 12(e) of the amended RPO, the commission can cancel the candidature if any contestant provides wrong information in the official affidavit copy that they must sign for running the polls. Besides, they will also have to deposit Tk20,000 with the affidavit copy. Previously, the fee was Tk10,000.
Moreover, the polling agents of the candidates must be a voter of their respective constituencies and will mandatorily have to submit their names and voter identity numbers to the returning officer.
The EC has also raised the upper limit of election expenditure from Tk1.5m to Tk2.5m for each candidate.
Suggested changes in the RPO also include that the EC can declare a candidate winner if he or she is found to be the only one after the scrutiny of the nominations.
The ministries concerned must follow the commission’s recommendations and requests before they transfer any official for election purposes. After the poll schedules are announced, the ministries cannot transfer anyone or stage a reshuffle without consulting the EC.
The amendment bid curbed the sentences from seven to five years that magistrates could hand down for any case of violation of electoral laws.
According to the existing RPO, any political party, with candidates running in more than 200 seats, could spend Tk45m on election purposes. The amendment proposal extends that limit to Tk60m. If the number of candidates is below 200, the party can spend up to Tk30m.
The proposal also suggests that the independent contestants must collect signatures of at least one thousand voters for being able to run in the polls.
