‘Law for appointing polls commissioners has to be reformed’

Following the chief adviser's announcement of the heads of six commissions tasked with reforming the judiciary, election system, administration, police, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the constitution, two of the commission chiefs -- Iftekharuzzaman and Badiul Alam Majumdar -- shared their plans and priorities with Star.

Badiul Alam Majumdar, the head of the commission to reform the election system, said they will need to reform the law through which the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners are appointed.

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Under the law, the government can appoint its desired people as CEC and election commissioners.

"There is weakness in the law -- this law is not befitting this era.

The commission will also need to work to reform the candidate nomination process, make a few changes in the Representation of the People Order (RPO) and voter list.

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"We will have to see what our jobs will be. We will need to see many things deeply."

There is a need for the inclusion of representatives from the treasury, opposition benches and the third-largest party in parliament in the search committee responsible for appointing the CEC and other election commissioners so that none can manipulate the system.

Besides, changes must be made regarding the types of information candidates provide in their affidavits ahead of polls.

By and large, the electoral law RPO is acceptable. But there is a need for some changes.

For example, according to RPO's section 90B, political parties registered with the Election Commission must not have provisions for associated and affiliated bodies in their constitutions. This was intended to disband such bodies.

"This has been misused. The political parties removed such provisions from their constitutions but kept those affiliated bodies by terming them as brotherly organisations."

The nomination process needs to be changed, he said.

The voter list needs to be changed too: there is a gender gap in the list, with fewer women voters than males, he added.