Time for changing parties running out

FE Team | Published: March 26, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Politicians and government employees are in a hurry to make up their minds about their political identities or are giving up their jobs. They must do so within the month to contest the next general elections, reports bdnews24.com. The amended Representation of the People's Order (RPO) stipulates that candidacy aspirants must be members of any registered political party for at least three years, while public servants must relinquish their jobs as many years before the next general elections. In case of changes in party affiliation less than three years before the polls, politicians would only be allowed to contest the polls independently, an option which everyone will try to avoid. According to the RPO, aspirant who contests in the polls as an independent candidate has to submit signatures from a minimum one per cent voters of his/her constituency in his/her favour. The RPO was amended with an aim to bring a qualitative change in the election process and stop the trend of changing parties or resigning from government jobs shortly before the elections. A physician at Dhaka Medical College Hospital went to the Election Commission (EC) on Mar 21 to know when he would have to resign if he wanted to be a candidate in the next national polls. Requesting anonymity, the doctor told the news agency that he had been serving as a government employee for 13 years.