Election Commissioner Md Shah Newaz on Thursday made it clear that Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s registration as a political party had already been cancelled through the High Court verdict and the party could not participate in the next general elections.
“Jamaat has no registration as per the High Court, and at this moment it cannot contest in the elections as a political party,” Newaz said.
“No political party can contest parliamentary elections without registering with the Election Commission,” he told reporters at the EC Secretariat.
Asked if the commission would inform Jamaat about the cancellation formally, Newaz said there was no need for that as the EC had already posted a notice on the matter on its website. “Jamaat also participated in the hearing on the issue at court.”
Replying to another query, he admitted that the list of registered political parties still carried Jamaat’s name on the EC website. He referred to the notice on the commission’s website again and said the commission would decide deleting the name.
He said the EC got a copy of the full verdict on Jamaat’s registration and would discuss at its meeting if any other steps were required against the party after examining the verdict. On August 1, the High Court had cancelled Jamaat’s registration “by majority view.”
In the full verdict, the court has observed that the Election Commission did not register the party in 2008 “lawfully” and Jamaat’s charter contains elements contrary to the constitution and election rules of Bangladesh.
It says Jamaat has no moral right to be in Bangladesh politics for the atrocities it committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
Jamaat got registered with the EC with the scale as its election symbol on November 4, 2008. The registration was subject to a few conditions that required it to amend the party charter because of contradictions with the constitution.
On election campaign, Newaz said the EC had mentioned in its draft electoral code of conduct that the election time meant the period from announcement of the polls schedule to publishing of the gazette on polls results.
He said the commission had nothing to do if anyone started campaigning for the polls before the election time, but it would take action for violating the electoral code of conduct after announcement of the polls schedule.
The EC will publish a mass circular today, seeking objections, if any, to the registration of the new political party, Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF). Objections can be submitted within seven days.
The chief election commissioner on Wednesday had said the BNF had fulfilled the EC’s conditions for registration. The EC would make the final decision about the BNF’s registration after hearing on those objections, he added.
