A total of 30 registered political parties, including Awami League and BNP, have submitted their earnings and expenditure statements for the year 2012 to the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday.Ruling Party Awami League did not release their transaction details to the media but BNP did. EC will not release any documents that were submitted to it.
Awami League Deputy Office Secretary Mrinal Kanti Das, after the submission, told reporters, “we provided our audit report because we believe in transparency and accountability.”
“It will not be prudent for us to publish it. It is now a property of the constitutional body, the Election Commission.”
He however said they would not object if Election Commission decides to make it public.
Before that BNP Joint General Secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi submitted the party’s audit report to the EC.
He said, “I am submitting the documents of my party for the year 2012. Our annual earning was Tk 17.9 million and annual expenditure was Tk 22.6 million.”
EC’s public relation branch said that 30 registered parties including Jatiya Party have submitted their audit reports until Wednesday afternoon.
Workers Party, Jatiya Party (JP), Shammobadi Dal and Bikalpa Dhara have requested for extension of the submission deadline.
The Representation of the People Order says parties will have to submit reports to EC after auditing their transactions by registered chartered accountant firms.
It was made mandatory in 2008 but the commission never formally published the numbers. The EC has been denying their publication saying they are ‘secret reports’.
Election Commission Secretary Mohammad Sadik told reporters, “The commission will decide if there is a need to increase the deadline for audit submission or if the reports should be released.” – bdnews24.com
