Mahbub Talukder issues ‘note of dissent’ on 3 Election Commission proposals

Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukder today issued a "note of dissent" on three proposals of the Election Commission.

He said the Secretariat of the Election Commission had earlier repealed the Representation of the People Order, 1972 and sent the draft of the Representation of the People Act 2020 to the law ministry.

According to the law ministry, the draft has been sent to the ministry with the exclusion of 11 basic and procedural provisions.

The most concerning issue is the abolition of the direct power of the RPO or Section 91 of the Representation of the People Order, 1972, to cancel the candidature of an individual, which was vested on the Election Commission, he said.

"I think it is a suicidal decision of the Election Commission to move away from the sole power of direct cancellation of candidature," Mahbub said.

Meanwhile, at the 69th meeting of the EC on August 24, 2020, the draft law on local government election management has been submitted for approval. In this draft, it has been proposed to replace the Representation of the People Order, 1972 with the Representation of the People Act, 2020 with amendment, he said.

"I totally oppose this move," Mahbub said.

Besides, in his "note of dissent", the election commissioner said, "I also disagree with the Election Commission's proposal to amend the local government body's election management act."