Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Zabed Ali on Wednesday said the Election Commission (EC) will act over the legal dispute on the registration of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami after the final disposal by the apex court. He stated this while talking to reporters at his office about the fate of the Jamaat’s registration which has been declared illegal by the High Court. “We won’t take any step voluntarily before the final disposal by the court. If the court verdict goes against Jamaat, their registration will automatically be cancelled,” Zabed Ali said. The cancellation of registration of any political party is a lengthy procedure, he added. The Commissioner said that the EC on several occasions issued notices asking the Jamaat to change its organisational charter and they also submitted its charter with some changes responding to the commission’s notices. He said: “We were examining the charter it (Jamaat) submitted the last time, but stopped when a writ petition challenging the validity of the EC’s decision on its registration came up for hearing before the High Court.” The commission should not be given absolute authority to cancel registration of any political party as there is possibility of misuse of such autocratic power, Zabed Ali said. On August 1, the High Court upon a public interest litigation writ petition declared illegal the registration of Jamaat-e-Islami with the Election Commission as a political party. Hours after the HC ruling, Jamaat-e Islami moved to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the HC order, which is now pending for disposal. If registration of Jamaat is cancelled, the embattled Islamic party will be ineligible for contesting the next parliamentary elections. About the Local Government Ministry’s request to suspend the election process of eight municipalities, commissioner Zabed Ali said the EC has asked the ministry to be more careful so that no local body election would have to be suspended in future once the election process starts. The Election Commission on Tuesday suspended the election process of eight municipalities at the request of the Local Government Ministry as the municipalities face complexities over demarcation of wards and expansion of their boundaries. (Sources: UNB)
