New EC rule to disqualify turncoats

A new Election Commission rule is set to bar any aspirant from contesting in the 2014 general election who has not been a member of their party for three or more years.
“Those who switch parties after 2010 cannot contest the 10th Jatiya Sangsad polls,” election commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain told bdnews24.com this week, describing the provision of the amended Representation of the People Order (RPO).
The public and political observers have long been demanding such provisions arguing that allowing party-change just before polls promotes corruption.
Asked to comment on the provision, former adviser to the caretaker government Akbar Ali Khan told bdnews24.com: “In the past we saw that a section of people secured nomination (to contest general elections) by changing their party identity overnight and disregarding ideals and values of any party.”
“Such practice promotes corruption and hinders democracy.”
In the recent past, many well known politicians resorted to the practice after they failed to secure party nominations. They include Moudud Ahmed, Shah Moazzem Hossain, Kazi Zafar Ahmed, Sardar Amzad Hossain, Nurul Islam Nahid, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, Oli Ahmed, Khaledur Rahman Tito and Ali Reza Razu.
Sakhawat said the commission would investigate any complaint of such practice and the violators would be barred from contesting the election under the amended RPO.
Akbar Ali Khan urged the EC to strictly enforce the provision and political parties to respect it.
“The parties have to abide by the law. Respect of law will promote democracy in and outside the parties,” he said.
Chairman of Transparency International Bangladesh, M Hafizuddin Khan, said the ‘party-change game’ is a result of unethical politics. “Such a game wouldn’t have continued had there been politics of ethics and ideals”
Hafiz, also a former adviser to the caretaker government, said attitude of political parties has changed a lot after the reforms in electoral law. He said the Election Commission has also succeeded remarkable well in enforcement of the law.
He hoped the commission would succeed in holding free and fair elections in future with the experience of the last polls.
Sakhawat said: “We’ll not be there (at the EC) when the next election will be held. But we hope the commission will remain strong and committed to enforce the electoral law.”
EC deputy secretary Mihir Sarwar Morshed said the commission wants to overcome the troubles it faced during the last general elections in enforcing the law.

Courtesy of bdnews24.com