EC ignored key reform proposals: Badiul Alam

Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary of Citizens for Good Governance, Sujan, and an economist, has said the Election Commission has ignored many important recommendations of the Electoral System Reform Commission. He said there is no alternative to elections for the growth of democracy and vowed to continue the fight for credible polls.

He made the remarks on Wednesday morning at a roundtable discussion titled “Progress of electoral system reform,” organised by Sujan at the CIRDAP auditorium on Topkhana Road in Dhaka.

Dr Badiul Alam said the reform commission worked on 18 priority areas and made several recommendations to form an independent Election Commission and ensure fair elections. While some recommendations were implemented, many crucial ones were ignored.

He said provisions requiring certification of the credibility and acceptability of results before issuing the gazette within 48 hours of polling were not included in the Representation of the People Order, RPO. He also said the EC took no initiative to form monitoring committees or oversee election expenditure.

Although candidates are required to submit five years of income tax returns with nomination papers, he said the RPO should also have mandated submission of the most recent tax return. Proposals such as scrapping multiple-seat candidacy, cancelling party registration for skipping two consecutive elections and making registration renewal mandatory every five years were also ignored, he added.

Dr Badiul Alam said the proposal to require consent from 500 voters instead of signatures from 1 percent of voters for independent candidates was also not incorporated into the RPO, though he acknowledged that the commission did accept some reform recommendations.

The roundtable was chaired by Sujan trustee Justice Abdul Matin.