Send ballot papers to centres on voting day to stop rigging, JaPa tells EC

Jatiya Party, the main opposition party in the parliament, thinks that vote rigging takes place if the ballot papers are sent to polling centres the night before voting.

The JaPa urged the election commission to send the ballot papers in the morning of election day instead.

The JaPa, led by its secretary general Mujibul Haque, participate in a dialogue with Election Commission at Nirbachan Bhavan on Sunday.

“The work (voting) is done at the night. What can we say, we have made it happen. It happens (voting on the night before the election),” Mujibul Haque said.

Mujibul Haque is also a lawmaker of Kishoreganj-3.

JaPa registered strong opposition to the use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the next general election.

“We don’t have any trust in EVM. I personally don’t have any confidence in it. People think they can’t do anything if election results are changed using the EVM. Because, the result cannot be rechecked,” Mujibul Haque said.

The JaPa proposed proportional representation in the election, increasing electoral expenditure to Tk 5 million from Tk 2.5 million, lifting the ceiling of expenditure if necessary and the annulment of the existing rule of cancellation of candidacy for utilities-credit card bills.

The EC is holding dialogues with registered political parties ahead of the 12th parliamentary election.

The EC's dialogue will be wrapped up today by a meeting with the ruling Awami League.

The EC invited 39 political parties for the dialogue. BNP and eight other parties did join the dialogue.

Jatiya Party (JP) and Bangladesh National Awami Party could not take part in the scheduled time and they requested the EC to reschedule the meeting.

The incumbent EC took charge last February with Kazi Habibul Awal as chief election commissioner. Within 15 days of taking the oath, the EC started the dialogue with stakeholders.

Before the political parties, the EC also held dialogues with educationists, eminent citizens, journalists, election observers and experts.