National Citizen Party (NCP) on Sunday criticised the Election Commission for its remarks saying that the constitutional body should start election preparations in full gear in line with the possible final report of the National Consensus Commission.
“Now the EC can do its day-to-day work or internal affairs. But when it goes into its full-pledged preparations for the (national) election, we think it should go through the final report of the Consensus Commission,” said NCP Chief Coordinator Nasiruddin Patwary replying to a question from reporters after a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin.
A five-member NCP delegation, led by Nasiruddin Patwary, sat in a meeting with the CEC around 12:15 pm at the latter's office in the capital to discuss different issues, including electoral reforms.
NCP seeks 90-day extension of deadline for political party registration
The NCP chief coordinator said their party is focusing on implementation of the decisions of the National Consensus Commission. "If they don't agree with the same issues (the decisions) of the Consensus Commission, we won't be able to keep that kind of trust in them," he said.
The new party has also expressed doubts about the EC’s comment about the election roadmap before the Chief Adviser.
“We hear many things from the EC that we did not hear from our chief adviser. We did not hear about the roadmap (from the chief adviser). But it came from the EC. So, we would like to say that the EC needs to be careful in its place to speak in any place," he said.
He said the EC can start its work in line with the announcement of the Chief Adviser over holding the election from December next to June 2026. "But when they speak on their own before the roadmap or any direction comes from the government, we are suspicious," he added.
Noting that NCP in a letter sent to the EC on April 17 focused on the reform issues, Nasiruddin said they demanded the Election Commission to go for the election following reforms in line with the public demand.
In reply to another question, he said the act of 2022 (CEC and EC Appointment Act) is illegal and they are opposing the law. It depends on the report of the Consensus Commission whether the present CEC and election commissioners would stay in charge.
“After the report of the Consensus Commission is finalised, and if they can stay (as per the report), they will stay. If they can't, they won't. It will depend on the report of the Consensus Commission. We don’t have any objection to anyone. The constitutional body should be constituted according to the report of the Consensus Commission,” he said.
The NCP leader said the report of the electoral system reform commission led by Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar should fully be implemented in the next general election. “We told them that it will have to go for the next election through the implementation of page by page, word by word of the reform report,” he said.
During the two-hour meeting, the NCP placed a number of demands before the CEC, including presence of an aspirant in person during submission of his or her nomination paper, renewal of existing registered political parties after every five years, extending timeframe for party registration, and a provision to issue a certification over fairness and credibility of an election by the Election Commission before 48 hours of the gazette notification.
Besides, the new party demanded the officials and candidates who were involved in the last three national elections to be brought under a visible trial process and the voting rights of the expatriate Bangladeshis to be ensured.
Other demands include barring the loan defaulters from contesting the election, cancellation of the candidacy in case of providing false information in the affidavit, bringing changes to the electoral code of conduct and provisions related to election expenditures to control use of money.
The NCP delegation members include its joint conveners Anik Ray, Khaled Saifullah, Mujahidul Islam Shahin and Tajnuva Habib.
On Thursday last, the NCP, a newly-formed political party led by youths, in an application asked the Election Commission to extend the deadline for applying for party registration by at least 90 more days.
On March 10, the Election Commission invited applications from the new political parties by April 20 next to get registered ahead of the next national election.
In the application, the NCP said the current EC issued a notification for political party registration on March 10 without making fundamental reforms and updating the existing laws.
The EC on March 10 issued a public notification seeking applications from the parties that are capable of fulfilling the registration conditions mentioned in the Political Party Registration Rules 2008.