Reform commission wants to make affidavit verification mandatory
The electoral reform commission is likely to recommend mandatory verification of information in the affidavits submitted during the national polls. Besides, submission of statements for the assets owned by the candidates abroad could also be made obligatory. So, changes are being considered in the format of the affidavit.
The candidates have to submit eight specific pieces of information in the affidavit along with their nomination papers to the Election Commission (EC) – educational background, information of past and present criminal cases if any, profession, source of income, assets owned by the candidate and people dependent on him or her, information on loans taken by the candidate and how much of the commitments made before the polls have been fulfilled of the candidate has already taken part in polls before.
Submission of this information is mandatory as per the electoral laws of the country. The EC has the jurisdiction to cancel candidature of a person in case he or she uses false information in the affidavit.
Besides, there are provisions to impose fines or three years of imprisonment in case the information provided in the affidavit is found to be false. However, the EC does not verify the information given in the affidavit.
Sources in the EC said the EC usually verifies the loan information of the candidates while scrutinising the nomination papers. In that case, the EC checks the Bangladesh Bank’s loan statement. Besides, representatives from different banks remain present during the scrutiny.
Apart from that, the EC also verifies in case any allegation is raised against any candidate. They don’t check any other information provided by the candidate in the affidavit.
Sources in the electoral reform commission said the issue of mandatory verification of the information provided in election affidavits came up in the meeting with the stakeholders. This also came up in the meeting with officials who served and the returning and assistant returning officials in the recent elections. In the meeting, the officials raised some limitations in verifying the information. They said if more time is allocated in the election schedule for the verification of information provided in the affidavits, then it will be possible to verify much more information.
Relevant sources say the reform commission wants to recommend arrangements for verification of the affidavit information. However, it will still be tough to verify whether the candidate has any income beyond known sources. So the commission is considering integrating the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Bangladesh Bank and other relevant agencies in the process of verifying the information.
Besides, the candidates usually have assets abroad. However, they don’t mention that in the affidavit. In most cases, the asset statements include only the movable and immovable assets in the country.
For instance, there were several media reports of former minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and another former MP Abdus Sobhan having huge properties abroad. But they both hid the information in the affidavit. The EC didn’t run any investigation on the allegations either.
Following the media reports, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury admitted that he had properties abroad in a press conference in March last year. Asked about hiding the information in the election affidavit, he said the affidavit form is solely based on the income tax returns of Bangladesh. There is no separate option for the assets abroad in the affidavit format. So why would he provide additional information?
Election reform commission sources say they agreed to bring some changes in the format of the election affidavit. They want to recommend a separate section for the statements of assets owned by the candidates abroad.
Speaking to Prothom Alo regarding this, election reform commission chief Badiul Alam Majumdar said, “Without verification, the entire process becomes a meaningless formality. We are sincerely considering the arrangements for verifying the affidavit information. Besides, there should be a separate statement regarding the assets owned by the candidate abroad and its source. It is essential to find out whether the asset was made of laundered money.”
However, questions have been raised whether it is possible to verify the information on the affidavit or not.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, election expert Md Abdul Alim said, “It is possible to verify if the deadline for verifying the nomination papers are increased and organisations like the NBR, BB and ACC could be used in the process. If needed, a separate team could be formed in each constituency for this.”
*This report appeared on the print and online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu