EC dialogues with parties begin today

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The Election Commission (EC) begins dialogues on electoral reform with political parties today (Wednesday), reports bdnews24.com.
"We are ready for discussion with the political parties. The parts of the draft electoral law reforms, on which both parties agree need not be discussed. The talks will focus on the points of the draft, on which there is difference of opinion," election commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain told reporters Tuesday.
With political parties taking the advantage of lifting of the ban on indoor politics to discuss the draft laws in their party forums, Sakhawat said: "Islami Oikya Jote has informed us that they are holding a meeting of their Majlish-e-Sura to discuss the draft laws."
The commission will sit with representatives of the IOJ on the first day of dialogue.
"Many more parties, besides the 15 who are due to sit with us, have expressed their desire to participate in talks," Sakhawat said.
"However, the parties have to meet the conditions for registration," the election commissioner added.
The schedule for dialogues with the 15 political parties has been fixed according to the Bangla alphabetical order. A maximum of five representatives of each party may participate in the discussion.
The EC has been sending invitation letters and drafts of the reform laws to the political parties 15 to 20 days ahead of schedule.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda in a press conference on Aug 28 announced the date for start of dialogues on electoral reform with the political parties.
"As per the election roadmap, the Election Commission will hold discussions with the political parties through September, October and November," he said.
According to UNB, the agenda of the dialogue will focus on the Representation People Order 1972, the Political Party Registration Rules 2001, and the Election Codes of Conduct 1996.
Besides, discussions may be held on a proposal for the use of transparent ballot boxes for voting. A new photo voter list is now in the making for the next polls.
One cardinal proposal tags the condition that for getting registered with the EC the political parties should have secured at least one parliamentary seat in any general election since Bangladesh's Independence.
Or, alternatively, the parties must have polled at least 2.0 per cent of votes cast in the last general election or have offices in 32 district and upazila headquarters with minimum 1,000 members in districts and 200 in upazilas.
The IOJ sources said they would suggest minimising the numbers to 500 at district and 50 at the upazila level. The alliance would also ask the EC to reduce the party- registration fee from Tk 25,000.
With the draft in their hand, they observed that the political parties would get engaged more in maintaining their accounts rather than politics due to the conditions about party accounts as proposed in the draft laws.
The IOJ supports the EC proposal of limiting the opportunity of contesting election to only three constituencies at the maximum. But, the sources said, they would ask the EC to remove the conditions of depositing only Tk 10,000 for contesting in the first constituency and Tk 500,000 for the remaining two constituencies.