Civil and rights groups yesterday criticised the ruling party for apparently using public money on election campaigning, while insisting that the ministers vacated their posts when they submitted resignation letters.
“A party has already started election campaigning using citizens’ tax money,” Hameeda Hossain, chairperson of Ain o Salish Kendra, said at a press conference, organised by Sujan, a civil society platform, at the National Press Club yesterday.
In recent months, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been travelling around the country to inaugurate various projects as her government nears the end of its tenure.
In addition, Hasina, who is also president of Awami League, has been using the official visits to openly seek votes for her party, allegedly using public funds and government machineries.
Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary of Sujan (Citizens for Good Governance), said the existing electoral Code of Conduct (Section 12) prohibits campaigning three weeks prior to the date of election.
Reading from a statement, he noted that in the famous Raj Narain vs Indira Gandhi case in 1975, the Allahabad High Court in India declared then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s election to the Lok Sabha as unacceptable because she had used government facilities in her campaign.
Majumdar also said the Election Commission was created as a “constitutional body”, but now it was “pleading that it is powerless”.
“It has enormous power to take action against (those) violating the code of conduct,” he added. Meanwhile, Majumdar said the resignations of the government ministers became effective as soon as they submitted their letters.
“Whenever a resignation letter is submitted, it becomes accepted,” Majumdar told the Dhaka Tribune.
He also said constitutional expert Mahmudul Islam in his book, “Constitutional Law of Bangladesh”, wrote that the holders of constitutional posts and offices “have the unilateral right of resignation, effectiveness of which is not dependent on the acceptance of the resignation by any authority”.
On Monday, all the ministers handed their resignation letters to the prime minister, without specifying a date.
The press conference was also attended by Sujan convenor Dilip Kumar Sarkar and Md Jalal Uddin Sarder of Rajshahi University.
