Unprecedented amendment to RPO heats up poll season

Some amendments to the Representation of the People Order (RPO) were made before the 7th national elections. But the amendments made by the interim government this time are unprecedented. Especially, the amendments to Section 21 of the RPO, which were widely made by accepting the proposals of Jamaat-e-Islami and NCP and rejecting the proposals of some other parties including BNP, are making the election season hot. Several political parties, including the BNP, are angry over the cancellation of the long-standing alliance system of elections under a single party symbol.

Although BNP has expressed its objections in writing to the Election Commission and the Law Ministry several times, the current interim government has finally issued the ordinance amending Section 21 of the RPO. As a result of the amendment to this section, even if an alliance is formed, they will have to participate in the elections under their own party's symbol. This ordinance was issued on November 3.

Earlier on October 23, the Advisory Council meeting gave in-principle approval to the draft RPO Amendment Ordinance. BNP had objected to holding elections under the party symbol despite the alliance. The party conveyed its objections in writing to the Election Commission and the Law Ministry. After that, the government took a policy decision to drop the issue.

At that time, Jamaat-e-Islami and National Citizen Party (NCP) stood in favor of this amendment. In the end, the government issued the ordinance keeping that provision.

In addition, this time, some more changes were made to the electoral law by amending the Representation of the People Order (RPO). If a candidate defaults on a loan seven days before filing his nomination papers and within five years of being elected, his seat will become vacant. In addition, fugitive accused have been disqualified from being candidates and the opportunity to submit nomination papers online has been closed. In addition, the definition of law enforcement agencies has been changed to include the armed forces, and 'no' votes are partially returning. Only if there is a single candidate, will there be an opportunity to vote 'no'.

The revised RPO states that the deposit amount will be increased to Tk 50,000, a maximum fine of Tk 150,000 will be imposed if a party violates the code of conduct, the introduction of IT-supported postal voting system, a provision for cancelling votes for the entire constituency due to irregularities, the misuse of AI will be considered an election crime, and the EC will be able to take action even after being elected if false information is given in the affidavit (making it ineligible to vote). However, the proposal that even if a person is the president or a member of the managing committee of an educational institution, he will be ineligible to be a candidate has been dropped.

The EC will soon finalize the code of conduct for parties and candidates according to the new ordinance in view of the parliamentary elections. The thirteenth national parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in the first half of next February. For this purpose, the EC may announce the schedule in the first half of December.

Earlier, the government made major changes to the election-related laws.
The draft of the RPO Amendment Ordinance was approved in the meeting of the Advisory Council on October 23. After this, the BNP raised objections to the decision to close the opportunity of the election by using the same symbol. This was discussed in detail in at least two rounds of advisory council meetings. At one point, the media reported that the advisory council changed its decision after taking BNP's objections into account. However, Jamaat-e-Islami and NCP strongly opposed it.

In this regard, Supreme Court Bar Association President and BNP's nominee for the upcoming national elections, Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon told Views Bangladesh: "BNP, as a major party, has suffered in the vote count due to such a decision that even if we vote in an alliance, we will have to vote under our own party's symbol."

"The calculation is that the smaller parties have formed an alliance with BNP in the hope of being elected together and becoming alliance candidates for the post of member of parliament. In that case, the leaders of the small parties see the BNP's paddy sheaf symbol as a hope for victory," he added.

He further said: "They are not allowing us to close the roads to fascism that we wanted to close."

BNP's legal affairs secretary Barrister Kayser Kamal told Views Bangladesh: "The RPO has been amended this time as per the demands of Jamaat and NCP without raising the objections of the BNP. In particular, the amendment ordinance of Section 21 of the RPO was issued. As a result, even if an alliance is formed, each party will have to vote with its party symbol. Not everyone in the alliance will be able to vote with a single symbol. Such a unilateral decision is very unfortunate."

However, pro-Jamaat lawyer Barrister Md. Belayet Hossain told Views Bangladesh: "It was not because of anyone's wishes, the government itself amended the RPO. As a result of this amendment, even if you vote in the alliance, you will have to contest with your own party symbol. Therefore, the small parties will not be very interested in allying with the BNP. There are two reasons for this. First, even if BNP gets support, if the individual is not popular, it will be difficult for the leaders of small parties to win elections under their own party symbols. On the other hand, even if BNP gives up seats as a candidate for the alliance, it will be even more difficult to win the election if someone from the party contests as a rebel or independent candidate. In that case, the BNP leadership will struggle to remove the rebel. That is why they are so angry."