Abolition of the condition of signature of voters to be a candidate, thinking of increasing the security

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Voting will be without party symbols.

The thought of increasing bail to prevent ‘dummy’ candidates.

The Election Commission (EC) is thinking of increasing the security deposit of candidates in various local government elections.

As a result of the amendment of the law, local government elections will be held without party symbols. For this reason, the EC has taken the initiative to revise the rules of conduct and conduct of elections. As part of this, it is also under consideration to remove the provision of supporting signatures of voters from independent candidates.

Already, by amending the law, the provision of election to the post of Mayor/Chairman of Union Parishad (UP), Municipalities, Upazilas and City Corporations with party symbols has been removed. As a result, the election management and conduct rules should be amended. It is known from the related sources that some initial work has progressed in this regard.

During the interim government, almost all local government institutions dissolved the elected councils and installed administrators. After the formation of the BNP government, new administrators were appointed in various institutions of the local government. The decision regarding the local elections has not yet been finalized. However, recently Prime Minister Tarek Rahman said in an exchange of views with the top leaders of BNP and the party’s three affiliate organizations that the elections for various levels of local government will be held soon. On the other hand, ECO has taken the initiative to reform the necessary rules before holding the election.

According to EC sources, a meeting of the EC Laws and Rules Reform Committee is scheduled to take place today on Wednesday. There will be a discussion on where the election management rules and conduct rules need to be amended. The issue of collateral may also come up for discussion. If the committee decides on this, it will be presented later in the commission meeting. If the commission approves the decision will be final.

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Earlier, the Election Commission led by Kazi Habibul Awal also took the initiative to increase the security deposit in local government elections. In the March 2024 Upazila Parishad election, the security deposit for the post of chairman was increased from 10 thousand to 1 lakh taka and for the post of vice chairman from 5 thousand to 75 thousand taka. At the same time, the provision of submitting the list with the supporting signature of the voter in the case of an independent candidate for the post of chairman in the Upazila Parishad elections is also omitted.

According to a source in the EC, the current commission feels that the number of candidates may increase if the provision of signatures of a certain number of voters is removed to run for election without party symbol. Many may be unnecessary or ‘dummy’ candidates. This will create pressure in the election management. It is being considered to increase the amount of bail to handle this situation.

However, some members of the current commission do not think it is logical that the previous commission has increased the amount of security by 10 times in the upazila elections. They want the security deposit to be increased in such a way that it is not burdensome to the candidates; Again, there is not so much that unnecessary competition increases.

Currently, the security for the post of chairman in UP election is 5 thousand and 1 thousand for member. According to the number of voters for the post of mayor of the municipality, the security is 15 thousand to 30 thousand taka, for the post of councilor 5 thousand taka. In the City Corporation, the security for the post of mayor is Tk 20 thousand to Tk 1 lakh and for the post of councilor Tk 10 thousand to Tk 50 thousand.

According to EC sources, there are plans to bring some other amendments including banning posters in local government elections, filing nomination papers online, eliminating the provision of voting in EVMs.

Abdur Rahmanel Machoud, chief election commissioner of EC’s law and rule reform committee, told Prothom Alo that their committee is having a meeting today. After the meeting, it can be said about increasing the bail. According to the amended law, what amendments are needed in the conduct of elections and election conduct rules will also be discussed in the meeting.