DHAKA: Ruling Awami League placed an 11-point proposal in the dialogue with the election commission (EC) on Wednesday over holding the next parliamentary election.
The party wanted electronic voting machine (EVM) to be used in the polls, but stood against the demarcation of constituencies and army deployment.
A 21-member representative team of the party led by its general secretary Obaidul Quader started the dialogue at EC Meeting room in Dhaka at 11:00am.
The dialogue was presided over by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda.
Awami League placed 11-point proposals in written format to the EC.
Some key points of the proposals are as follows:
Police including other general law enforcement agencies will serve for maintaining the law and order since the day of announcing poll schedule to the polls day and the post-poll observation period framed by EC.
Some political parties recently have asked for including the armed forces into general law enforcement agencies and deploying them during the polls. The demand is contradictory with the existing laws and the constitution of the country.
The number of the law enforcers in different forces including police, Rapid action Battalion (RAB), Boarder Guards Bangladesh (BGB) and Coast Guard has been raised which is larger than any other preceding time. Therefore, the top force of the country may lose their special position if they are included in the general forces.
The matter of reshuffling the constituencies’ boundary areas is related majorly with the census of population. The boundaries were fixed prior to the 10th parliamentary election in 2014, based on the census of 2011 which was later published in 2013. Therefore, a fresh boundary setting work without any fresh census may create a wide array of legal complexities.
EC should consider deeply whether they can complete the boundary reshuffling work for as many as 300 constitutional seats in a short span of time upon completion of all the legal steps, as the election will be held in late 2018. Moreover, EC have to arrange some local elections apart from the 11th national parliamentary polls.
Use of EVM should be introduced like many other modern and democratic states, in a bid to ensure the voting rights of the people and a fair-flawless-neutral election.
Highest alertness should be maintained while appointing the local and foreign observing bodies. It should be confirmed too as to no organization loyal to any specific party, quarter of person can get the duty.
Media personnel should be directed properly so that they can observe their duty with due respect to the electoral rules and regulations on the day of election. They should carry appropriate identity cards and moreover their working areas should be fixed.
Polling agent list of all the candidates should be submitted to the respective returning officers and assistant returning officers before the polls. Presiding officers will check their identities before allowing them into the voting booths. The agents should be directed for staying inside the booths till ending of the voting.
However, the 21-member Awami League delegation includes Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Mohammad Nasim, Matia Chowdhury, HT Imam, Mashiur Rahman, Abdur Razzak, Faruk Khan, Ramesh Chandra Sen, Md. Rashidul Alam, Mahabub-ul-Alam Hanif, Dipu Moni, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Abdur Rahman, HN Ashiqur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Abdus Sobhan Golap and Riazul Kabir Kawsar.
BDST: 1340 HRS, OCT 18, 2017
SI/SMS
