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The power to cancel the national parliament elections at any stage after the schedule is announced is going to return to the Election Commission. If the EC gets that power, if an adverse environment is created between the announcement of the schedule and the publication of the results in the gazette, the EC will be able to cancel the entire election. For this, the members of the Electoral Reforms Commission have agreed to recommend amending Sub-section 91(A) of the Representation of the People Order (RPO). In addition, the EC will have the power to cancel the candidacy of a candidate at any time if he/she provides false information in the affidavit or conceals information. The commission can cancel it even after the member of parliament is elected. The commission is going to recommend giving some other powers to the EC. The commission is supposed to submit the report of the commission to the interim government by January 1. Although the committee has already submitted a preliminary report to the government. This information was learned from relevant sources.

When asked about this, the head of the Electoral Reforms Commission, Dr. Badiul Alam Majumder told the media, “We are seriously considering the recommendations for many reforms. Among them is the issue of the EC’s power to cancel elections. We protested when that power was reduced. We believe that this power should remain in the hands of the EC.”

Before the 12th National Assembly elections, the Awami League government amended the RPO and passed a bill in the National Assembly. Among the other amendments at that time was subsection 91(A) of the RPO. The Election Commission led by Kazi Habibul Awal proposed to reduce that power. In that incident, there was widespread criticism from various quarters about the EC’s attitude towards organizing fair elections. However, the then CEC Kazi Habibul Awal claimed that the power of the Election Commission was increasing further by adding another subsection to 91(A).

It is known that according to RPO 91(A), if the EC believes that it will not be able to conduct a legal and fair election due to intimidation, use of force, pressure or various existing malpractices, then it had the power to stop the voting at any stage of the election. The fallen Awami League government amended it and made a provision to close only the centers where irregularities occurred on the day of the election. It closed the way to cancel the entire election. The members of the Election Reform Commission believe that this power should be returned to the hands of the EC. If necessary, the application of sub-section 91(A) can be made more specific.

In addition, the Reform Commission is going to propose amendments to sections 73 to 90 of the RPO. Those sections contain provisions for punishment for election crimes. It is being proposed to have separate punishment provisions for political parties, candidates, election and polling officials and the general public for committing election crimes. The commission members believe that the current provision of giving the same punishment for everyone is not logical.

The commission is going to propose adding a provision for verifying the information submitted by candidates in their affidavits in the national parliamentary elections. Under the existing law, it is mandatory for a candidate to provide seven types of information. The Election Commission does not verify that information. If a person aggrieved by the verification of a candidate’s nomination papers proves that information has been concealed against a candidate, his candidacy can be cancelled. The EC has no opportunity to take action if information is concealed or falsely stated in the affidavit at any stage other than the verification of nomination papers. In this regard, the Law Reform Commission is in favor of strengthening the commission further. Several amendments are being proposed for the upcoming 13th national parliamentary elections, including extending the time for verifying the information in the affidavits of candidates, specifying the candidate’s information in the affidavit, and mentioning the actual value of assets. Even if such allegations are proven against someone after being elected as a member of parliament, the EC can cancel his membership.

A member of the Reform Commission, who did not want to be named, said that Abdus Sobhan Golap, an Awami League member of parliament from Madaripur-3 constituency, concealed information about multiple houses in the United States in his affidavit. At that time, Election Commissioner Md. Alamgir told reporters that the candidates will submit an affidavit to us. But there is no legal basis for us to do anything based on the truth or falsehood of that affidavit. What the affidavit will provide is a kind of responsibility to inform the nation. The member of the Reform Commission said that almost all members have agreed to propose reforms in the affidavit provision to stop the tendency of hiding assets in this way. The source further said that the Electoral Reform Commission is also going to propose reforms in the Voters’ List Act and the National Assembly Delimitation Act. The members of the Reform Commission have agreed to give the opportunity to expatriates to exercise their voting rights. They are in favor of simplifying postal ballots. In addition, they are going to propose major amendments to the National Assembly Delimitation Act. In that proposal, it is proposed to involve officials of the relevant government departments, including geographers and statisticians, in the redrawing of the constituency boundaries of the National Assembly. At the same time, emphasis is being placed on keeping the population gap between one constituency and another within 10 percent. This will increase the number of seats in urban areas. On the other hand, the seats will be reduced in areas with low population. However, there will be recommendations to ensure that the seats in the hilly regions do not decrease.

The concerned said that the existing law is not of international standard. There is a loophole in this law to determine the boundaries of parliamentary seats according to the will of the government party. In this, the election results also go in favor of a particular person. This amendment is being proposed to close that loophole and bring transparency. It will be recommended to hold a draft boundary hearing at the field level. In this, the marginalized population of the concerned constituency will be able to participate in the hearing. It may also be recommended to form an independent commission to re-define boundaries in the future.

Among other recommendations, the existing law on the appointment of the Election Commission will be repealed and another new law will be proposed. In that law, it will be recommended to form an Election Commission at a later date based on the consensus of the political parties. In addition, it will be proposed to bring back the provision of the ‘no’ vote. This will close the way to be elected unopposed. It will be proposed to give the power to appoint the Election Commission’s manpower to the EC, to stop nomination trading in the elections, to finalize the candidates through the votes of grassroots leaders and activists, to remain a member of the same party for at least three years, and to allow candidates to campaign at government expense.

Election Reform Commission Chief Dr. Badiul Alam Majumder told reporters at an event in the capital on Monday that it will recommend not voting and stopping the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in elections. At the event, he said that those involved in the use of EVMs in the past elections will be recommended to be tried.
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