EC finally gets law ministry's response to RPO amendment proposal

The Election Commission (EC) has finally received a response from the law ministry regarding the commission's proposal to amend the Representation of the People Order (RPO) after three and a half months.

The EC received the letter from the ministry's Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division on Tuesday, said EC Joint Secretary Asaduzzaman Arzu.

The letter, which comes two days after the EC sought the ministry's response for the third time, said, the RPO amendment proposals are policy-making matters and therefore the overall scrutiny, including whether those proposals are compatible with the provisions of the Constitution and the existing RPO, are ongoing.

As soon as the vetting process of the proposed amendments to the RPO is completed, necessary steps will be taken to prepare the proposed amendments as bills and present them in the Cabinet meeting for final approval, added the letter

The EC's proposed amendments include authorising the EC to cancel an election before the gazette notification of the results, extending authorities of the presiding officers, provision of punishment for intimidating agents of candidates or preventing them from going to the polling centre and punishment for preventing journalists doing their duty.

It even recommended five-year imprisonment of presiding officers concerned for not using the provision properly.

It further proposed making it mandatory for all candidates to submit income tax returns and all political parties to have at least 33% positions for women in all its committees.

Earlier, the EC had sent a proposal to the law ministry to amend some provisions of the RPO on 8 August, but the ministry did not reply to it even after two months. The EC also sent a letter seeking to know the progress in this regard on 28 September, to which the ministry did not respond either.