Bangladesh Elections

Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman HM Ershad was declared disqualified from the ballot yesterday. Returning officers (RO) rejected the five nomination papers Ershad had filed for the constituencies of Dhaka-5, Rangpur-3, Lalmonirhat-3, Sylhet-3 and Habiganj-3, on grounds of the Supreme Court's rejection of his appeal against a High Court verdict that had sentenced him to two years in prison in a graft case popularly known as 'Japanese boat purchase scam'. The current situation may lead Awami League (AL)-led grand electoral alliance to re-think whether it will compete in the upcoming parliamentary election. The RO's rejection of Ershad's nomination papers sparked a violent protest in greater Rangpur where leaders and activists of JP (Ershad) staged protests yesterday and called for dawn-to-dusk hartals today in different districts.

Sensing the rejection coming his way, Ershad met AL President Sheikh Hasina in her residence at 11:50am yesterday and discussed strategies for the next course of action. He told reporters that if the 'conspiracy against him' continues he might not contest the election. He also said that since he is in the grand alliance, he will take the decision in consultation with the alliance partners. As per the latest reports, in a couple of days, the grand alliance that filed nomination papers on Tuesday shifting from its rigid stance of not participating in the poll under the caretaker government led by President Iajuddin Ahmed, will announce whether it will remain in the race.

The constitution says that a person shall not be eligible to be a member of parliament if convicted and sentenced to at least two years in prison in a case of criminal offence involving moral turpitude unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release.

A widespread debate has begun on whether Ershad should be allowed to contest the polls. The state lawyers, who were appointed by the immediate past government, have been arguing that Ershad is not eligible for contesting the polls in accordance with the provision of the constitution. On the other hand, eminent jurists are arguing that Ershad is eligible to contest the polls since he already served two years in jail in the case and because five years have already elapsed since his release in 1997.

Dhaka,Bangladesh: As the nomination paper submission closes, the battle for ballot between the two major political alliances kicks off today. The candidates of the Awami League (AL)-led grand electoral alliance has decided to file their nominations for the election slated for January 22. Most of the contenders of the BNP-led four-party alliance have already filed nominations. However, none of the alliances has announced the official list of their nominees, as both the sides could not yet reach an understanding over sharing seats for the election. The final lists will not be made public before January 3, the closing date for withdrawing candidature.

 The AL sources claimed that their candidates will submit nominations for 212 constituencies as the party is set to leave 88 seats for its allies. On the other hand, Jatiya Party (JP-Ershad) claims that it has been allocated 50 seats while the LDP maintains that 27 seats have been left for it to contest. Among the partners of the 14-party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) claimed that it has got 6 seats, Gono Forum claimed 2, Workers Party 4, a faction of Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) 2 and Khelafat Majlish 2. The BNP has set aside 31 seats for Jamaat-e-Islami, three for the BJP, three for Islami Oikya Jote and one for Anwar Hossain Manju-led Jatiya Party. Over 9.30 crore voters are supposed to choose their representatives at 300 constituencies.

The AL Parliamentary Board, meanwhile, has had the candidates' signatures on withdrawal letters in case the party needs to withdraw the nomination papers to boycott the election, sources said. AL Joint General Secretary Obaidul Quader told journalists yesterday, that they will continue to observe the situation and will decide on our final course of action before the last date for withdrawing candidature." 

On the last date, the offices of 68 returning officers (RO) and 536 assistant returning officers (ARO) will be receiving the nomination papers from 9:00am to 5:00pm. The Election Commission (EC) has reserved 150 symbols for the contenders. Of those, 76 were earmarked for as many number of political parties contesting the polls and the rest are for the independent candidates. After the last date for withdrawing candidature that is January 3, the ROs will allocate the symbols among the candidates fielded by the political parties as well as the independent ones. 

The official process towards the election to form the ninth parliament began on November 27 with the announcement of election schedule that went on to be changed on several occasions. It will end with gazette notification of the victorious candidates .          

The Jatiya Party (Ershad), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and some Islamic parties at a grand rally on December 18 formally joined hands with the 14-party alliance. From that rally, they called the dawn-to-dusk hartal, demanding Iajuddin's resignation as the CA and immediate measures to create a level playing field before the upcoming general election.

 Following the hartal yesterday, for the first time, since restoration of democracy through a mass upsurge in 1990, the government that too a caretaker employed the army to tackle political demonstrations in the city and elsewhere in the country. Deployed on December 9, following a unilateral decision of President and Chief Adviser (CA) Iajuddin Ahmed, the armed forces swung into action to disperse the pickets in Dhaka yesterday. The troops chased off supporters of the 14-party combine and its allies as the latter clashed with the police, damaged a couple of vehicles and set fire to another car in Shyamoli in the morning. Alongside the law enforcers, the military were on patrol across the city during the hartal hours. The BNP, however, stood up for the army's role, saying it is part of their [military] responsibilities to foil attempts to create anarchy. 

The CA on December 13 ordered the army to be on standby and not to engage actively in routine law enforcement, but the home ministry did not issue any directives to the field level administrations in line with the decision, said sources. Meanwhile, CA Iajuddin Ahmed yesterday claimed that all conditions set by some political parties for participation in the upcoming election have been met, talking to the European Union delegation. Sticking to his stance on the army deployment, the CA told them that the armed forces have been deployed in aid of the law enforcement agencies to create and maintain an atmosphere congenial to free and fair election. 

New polls schedule disclosed, no change on voting date-Election Commission

The advisory council of caretaker government requested Election Commissioner SM Zakaria yesterday to go on leave of absence while at its request the Election Commission (EC) rescheduled the polls timetable again, keeping in mind holding of election within the 90-day constitutional obligation. The advisory council claimed that it has implemented the entire package proposal finalised 16 days ago although the proposals also included sending of Election Commissioner Modabbir Hossain Chowdhury on leave and appointment of new election commissioners to recast the EC. The council of advisers also decided not to appoint any new election commissioner although its package proposal had a deal in this regard.

A delegation of the AL-led grand alliance rushed to the EC yesterday afternoon and rejected the new timetable for the ninth parliamentary election, demanding announcement of election schedule after properly correcting the voter list first. In line with the request of the council of advisers, the EC rescheduled the next election by extending the deadline for filing nomination papers by three days up to December 24. Today was the deadline in the earlier schedule. The dates for other stages of the election were also re-fixed. In the new timetable, the date for scrutiny of nomination papers is December 28 and the date for withdrawal of candidature is January 3. The previous deadlines were December 22 and 28. The polling date, however, remains the same--January 22. The EC has to complete the election by January 25, the last day of the constitutionally stipulated 90-day period for holding election.

EC Secretary Abdur Rashid Sarkar disclosed the new polls schedule yesterday afternoon through a gazette notification. He said the EC rescheduled the official polls plan to ensure participation of all political parties in the election. Following these latest developments towards resolving the existing political deadlock, the council of advisers hoped that all political parties will now participate in the election. On voter list correction, he said the electoral roll can be updated up to the day before election and the lists will be available at the district election offices for correction.