EC becomes a tool to fulfill government’s wishes

Nagorik Oikya, Gono Odhikar Parishad and AB Party have harshly criticised the Election Commission after being denied registration as political parties. The leaders of these parties alleged the EC has become a "rubber stamp" of the government and that’s why the EC denied them registration and decided to give registration to two parties with dubious credentials.

Any party that is not registered with the EC cannot participate in elections with its own party symbol. A total of 93 political parties sought registration this time. EC at a meeting today decided to register two new political parties named Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM) and Bangladesh Supreme Party (BSP).

Nagorik Oikya’s president Mahmudur Rahman Manna came down heavily on the EC.

“This election commission has become a tool to fulfill the government’s wish. It registers the parties as per its wish and doesn't register the parties they don’t like.”

He said people are aware of the two parties that are selected to be registered.

Manna said the EC informed the party that ‘it passed the exam’ after it inquired about the party.

“But we have not been formally informed yet. Now news reports say that they (EC) decided to register two parties and we are excluded,” Manna said.

He alleged that the EC did not select Nagorik Oikya for registration so that the party cannot engage properly in its ongoing anti-government movement.

In reaction to the EC’s decision, Gono Odhikar Parishad’s general secretary Mohammad Rashed Khan told Prothom Alo, “The Election Commission told us that, upon review, it has prepared an initial list of the parties to be registered and our party is at the top. But now we see two other parties are going to get registration. The two parties that got the registration are controlled by government agencies. Intelligence agency created a party named Kings Party during the 1/11 regime and we can see a similar process this time too.”

Rashed Khan said a delegation of the party led by its president Nurul Haque went to the EC and protested the decision.

“We held a 40-minute discussion with chief election commissioner Habibul Awal,” he said, adding that the CEC asked them to go to the High Court.

Amar Bangladesh Party’s (AB Party) member secretary Mujibur Rahman said the process of registering the political parties has been a farce and EC has taken a partisan decision.

“They did it at the behest of government agencies,” he added.