If the Election Commission has its way, political parties will be empowered to cancel candidature in any constituency.Which means parties can field multiple candidates in a constituency and then cancel out those they don’t wish to field, leaving the field clear for a particular candidate approved by the party.
This will involve an amendment to the Representation of the People Order Act — an amendment the Election Commission seems to have already proposed.
The Election Commission says the amendment has become necessary after problems arose in the ninth parliamentary elections.
Election Commissioner Abu Hafiz said the Law Ministry asked for a revision. “Soon the full proposal will be sent to the ministry.”
As of now, a party can primarily select a maximum of five candidates for a constituency. A Returning Officer allots symbol to one among them after verification.
But, if the others do not withdraw from the contest, the EC can do nothing and says it faced problems on this score during the last elections.
According to the 2008 amendment, independent candidates have to file papers proving support of one percent voters.
No rebel candidate up against a party’s official choice can manage that easily.
Commissioner Hafiz told the media that the proposal has been finalised after “assessing practicalities”.
“After Returning Officer accepts nomination of one candidate from a party’s chief or General Secretary, nomination of others will be automatically cancelled. That is the system we wish to introduce”
According to him, it should be the party’s decision who to nominate.
Former Election Commissioner Muhammad Sahul Hossain welcomed the proposal. “Since a party gives out nominations, it will be good for them to have the power to cancel them.”
The proposal was forwarded by Awami League during a dialogue with the Election Commission on Dec 5 .
This has been seen as an effective way of stopping ‘rebel candidates’.
Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury said that not only party discipline, but also the very foundation of democracy is affected when an activist goes against a nomination.
However, one Election Commissioner insisted that the proposed amendment is not just at the behest of the ruling party. “The proposal was made to leave no loophole in the law,” he said but was not willing to be named.
“Awami League can themselves fix their constitution accordingly to keep to keep out rebels.”
In the last elections, 151 candidates had contested as independents. Most of them were rebels challenging the party’s official candidates. – bdnews24.com
