Special Correspondent :
The Election Commission (EC) will announce schedule for the11th National Parliamentary election in first week of November allowing a privilege with regard to ‘submission of income tax return’ for candidates, EC Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed said yesterday.
He said the EC is moving towards holding of the national election between 18th to 20th December.
“EC will announce election schedule in first week of November. All the candidates must remove banners, festoon, effigy and posters by seven days from the date of announcement of poll schedule,” Helaluddin Ahmed told reporters while he was briefing at the EC Secretariat over the outcome of the inter-ministerial meeting on election preparation on Wednesday.
According to the EC rules, ‘Submission of Income Tax return’ was mandatory for the candidates in the previous parliamentary polls.
“This is not mandatory this time as per the decision of the Cabinet. But, there is no obligation if any of the candidates enjoy TIN (Taxpayers Identification Number) and submits income tax return,” Helaluddin said.
“We had sent a proposal to the cabinet on this matter (Mandatory submission of income tax return). But, the cabinet argued that a farmer may not have a TIN and he may be willful to float candidature. So, this obligation must go,” he added.
According to him, a loan-defaulter could not take part in the election. A candidate who is a defaulter could submit nomination paper immediately after pay back overdue loans. Earlier, there was a rule that a candidate must pay back overdue loans seven days before filing nomination papers.
Meanwhile, the EC has asked authorities of all the educational institutions to complete annual examinations by 10th December in order to facilitate elections.
“This is essential because educational institutions are usually being used as poll centre and teachers serve as polling officer,” Helaluddin said.
He said the ministries of home and foreign affairs have been asked to make comfortable the visa procedures for the observers coming from abroad to monitor elections.
In addition, the Home Ministry has also been asked to establish safe and level-playing field for holding of the elections by arresting listed criminals, terrorists and drug peddlers, addicts and smugglers.
“The home ministry will launch stern drives soon after announcement of the polls schedule in light of the EC directives in order to establish peaceful climate for holding free and fair elections,” he said.
He said the public administration ministry has been asked to provide executive magistrates as per our (EC) demands to ensure stability of peace across the country during and pre-poll hours.
In reply to a question, he said the Home Ministry will decide about due course of actions in this regard.
He said the EC will require helicopters to carry ballot papers and polling officers to at least 34 centres across the country. He said majority of such polling centres are located in remote areas of Chittagong Hill Tracts.
According to the Constitution of the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh, the tenure of the 10th Parliament will be expiring on January 28 next year, which creates obligations for holding of the next Parliament between 90 days from October 31′ 2018.
In this backdrop, the EC is preparing for holding of the 11th parliamentary polls.
Today (1st November), the EC is likely to meet President Abdul Hamid before announcement of the election schedule. According to EC rules, the Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda will deliver a special speech for the nation on occasion of announcing election schedule.
