The Election Commission (EC) has found the documents of 12 political parties seeking new registration accurate in the initial verification.
Now the commission will look for the field offices of these parties.
EC Secretary Md Jahangir Alam gave this information to reporters at Agargaon Nirbachan Bhaban on Tuesday.
The 12 parties are— AB Party (Amar Bangladesh Party), Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM), Bangladesh Humanist Party (BHP), Gono Odhikar Parishad, Nagarik Oikya, Bangladesh Sanatan Party (BSP), Bangladesh Supreme Party (BSP ), Bangladesh Labour Party, Bangladesh Minority Janata Party (BMJP), Bangladesh People's Party (BPP), Democratic Party and Bangladesh Liberal Democratic Party (BLDP).
Among them, Dr Reza Kibria, son of former finance minister and late Awami League leader Shah AMS Kibria, and former Dhaka University DUCSU VP Nurul Haque Noor are leading the Gono Odhikar Parishad.
Besides, Mahmudur Rahman Manna is leading the Nagarik Oikya.
Most of the AB party leaders are former leaders of Jamaat-e-Islam. However, the name of Bangladesh Development Party (BDP), a political party supported by Jamaat-e-Islami, is not in the shortlist, although this party survived the preliminary selection.
The EC secretary told reporters: "Informal meeting of the commission has taken place. It discussed registration of political parties. So far, 93 parties applied for fresh registration. A committee headed by the joint secretary has worked to scrutinize these applications. Out of the 93 applications submitted, 14 applications were not in the prescribed format and two applications were withdrawn.”
In the initial stage, a total of 16 applications were rejected, he added.
"Of the remaining 77, we asked them to submit the required documents within 15 days. Nineteen parties could not submit within the stipulated time. Besides, the two sent letters were returned because the address was not correct. Ten parties sought time extension. It was not granted. In this way, 31 applications were later rejected. Finally, there are 46 applications. After scrutinizing these 46 applications, it was found that 34 applications were rejected as they did not comply with the rules, regulations and required information. There are 12 parties. The information provided by them will be verified at the field level and reports will be given within 15 days. After that, the commission will scrutinize it and make a decision,” the EC secretary said.
Regarding when the decision will be finalized, the EC secretary said:"I have already said that the Election Commission has decided to collect information about these 12 parties at the field level after our verification and selection process. Due to which the relevant district, upazila and central office will be verified. We have said that information should be given within 15 days. As per the roadmap, it will be finalized by June.”
MD Jahangir Alam said that it will not be possible to say anything right now about these parties, how many will survive and who will not.These parties must have the support of 200 voters at the upazila level, now it will be verified. There are offices of the party in one-third upazilas of districts across the country.
The commission will finalize the decision following reports, he added.
