Commissioners aggrieved by EC Secretariat Law

They demand its amendment
The Election Commission (EC) is not going to sit with the political parties soon to discuss further amendments to the amended Representation of People Order, 1972 (RPO, 1972), as demanded by the parties.
The law wing of the EC is working on preparation of the agenda of meeting with the political parties but the Commission considers this as a bottom-level job on its priority list. The Commission is busy now with photo-attached voter list updating work, which will start on June 15. Besides, the EC is also busy with infrastructure development.
Above all, the reported split between the CEC on the one hand and the two commissioners on the other over the EC Secretariat Law is the main reason for delay in preparing the agenda of meeting between the Commission and the political parties on RPO amendment, sources at the EC said.
The two commissioners recommended some amendments to the EC Secretariat Law as they feel some sections of this law have given the CEC and the secretary supreme authority for taking decisions about the work of the Commission reducing the commissioners to mere subordinate officers.
Two election commissioners have demanded immediate amendment of some of sections of the law to make the EC a truly independent organisation in the interest of holding free and fair elections in the days to come.
But the CEC finds no such provision in the EC Secretariat Law and he is against any kind of amendment to it. The election commissioners have demanded that the Commission take steps to amend the said law and then take up other work.
This explains why the proposed talks between the Commission and the political parties is getting delayed and it seems there is little chance of holding the dialogue within a month or two, sources said.
Election Commissioner Brig Gen (Retd) M Sakhawat Hussain told The Independent yesterday that it would take time to sit with the political parties as there are other urgent matters to deal with.
“The Commission is working on its infrastructural development. Then, it is going to start work on updating the voter list from June 15. We prepared the voter list during the caretaker government and the environment is different now. So, we may have to work more now for updating the electoral roll. The Commission is busy with these work.”
So, it is not possible to say when the Commission will sit with the political parties for dialogue. But the law wing is going ahead with preparing the agenda of the meeting. “I have made some recommendations in this regard. The Commission will hold meeting after the agenda is finalised. We will decide then when the Commission will sit with the political parties,” Sakhawat said.  
Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda, on April 27 said that the EC would prepare an agenda of the meeting with the political parties regarding amendment of the RPO through discussion with lawyers.
Sources at the EC said soon after the December 29 national polls, the political parties demanded some amendments to the RPO, which was amended last during the caretaker government in 2008.
The political parties consider some of sections of the RPO that were amended during the caretaker government, against the spirit of fair politics and oppressive in nature, which give the EC authority over the political parties.
The EC in principle agreed with the political parties’ demand for amending the RPO and decided to sit with the parties sometime in June for discussion.
 
Courtesy of The Independent