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The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal has claimed that the power of the Election Commission has not been reduced in the amendment of the Representation of the People Order (RPO) relating to national elections. He claims that there is unnecessary criticism of the new amendment. The CEC also commented that these criticisms are being made to denigrate the EC and mislead the people.

The EC had proposed amendments to several sections of the RPO ahead of the 12th Parliament elections. After a long process, the RPO Amendment Bill was passed by Parliament on July 4. CEC Kazi Habibul Awal made these comments at a press conference organized at the Agargaon election building in the capital on Monday to give the commission’s response.

Ever since the bill was raised and passed in the parliament, the election people have criticized this amendment. Several organizations, including Transparency International and Citizens for Good Governance, issued official statements criticizing the move. Former Election Commission Dr. Civil society representatives including M Sakhawat Hossain were also critical. Some have said that EC has shot itself in the foot. Besides, several political parties have also expressed negative reactions to this amendment. But the Election Commission was completely silent. The CEC called a press conference to respond to this issue, but later postponed it.

The EC’s proposal sought the power to cancel the polls of the entire constituencies subject to investigation if there were allegations of irregularities after the declaration of the results of an election. As per the recently passed revised new RPO, one or more centers have been empowered to suspend the results after polling. The power to annul the result of the entire election is not given. Law Minister Anisul Haque said in the Parliament in response to the criticism of the opposition members while passing the bill, “There are hundreds of polling stations in a constituency. It is undemocratic to call off the entire election because of the ‘mess’ in two centers.”

On Monday, the CEC was asked several times in the news Solfmelon, can the EC decide if there is a situation of mass irregularities in the election after the announcement of the schedule? In response, the CEC expressed a lot of irritation and said, “I will not answer this question, you can answer it yourself.” But at one point, he said, “The EC has the authority to make decisions outside the law.” Has in-herent power.’

Referring to the replacement of the word ‘polling’ in place of ‘election’ in the revised RPO, Kazi Habibul Awal told reporters, ‘We understand this. You understand what you understand. We know, we understand. If you think about it, keep thinking about it.

In the new amendment, the power of the commission has been increased and consolidated, CEC said, “no power of the EC has been canceled in the closure of the vote.” People are being misled over a constitutional amendment, the EC is being humiliated.’

CEC said that there have been various statements about the law in the last few months. It can confuse people. All the explanations or comments about this amendment are not correct. That is why this news should be clarified by the EC.

Kazi Habibul Awal said, “The commission has shot itself in the foot without understanding it.” After publication of the Gazette seeking the power to annul the election, Article 91(A) was said to have been amended. The government has amended the law for its own benefit. The government has revised the RPO as suggested by the EC. The EC wanted the amendments to make its position more consolidated, stronger, the government agreed to it, the parliament agreed. This has increased the power of the EC. The Commission has proposed to reduce the powers of the EC – this is also a matter of course. The EC cannot send a proposal to reduce power.

Qazi Habibul Awal said to the critics, ‘It is sad to misinterpret this amendment. The nation wants a fair election. It is not advisable to denigrate the EC by making unnecessary, misleading comments about the elections. The EC will benefit from providing constructive advice to the Commission.

The CEC said that the proposal to amend the RPO was sent to the Law Ministry 11 months ago. It was approved by the Cabinet after going through quite an uphill battle. He did not change it even a little. The EC has taken the view, particularly on Article 91 (a) (a). He said, “The EC proposed to add a provision to cancel any polling center or the entire constituency due to irregularities.” It has been said by the government that the affected centers should be given the power to cancel the centres. The government has sought the opinion of the commission in this regard. The commission agreed to it and said it was logical. This is a completely new genre. No changes have been made in the Commission’s proposal even from the Parliament. Passed in the form of a bill, it is gazetted in the form of a law.’

CEC said, ‘If there is any change in Article 91, the power of the commission would have been altered. Nothing was done there. This is a very important clause – where we can cancel any one, two centers or all the constituencies during the polling period. That power is exactly the same as before.

Regarding the addition of new clause (91(A)(A), he said, after the election, there is no other work except to gazette the results after sending them to the EC. There was a proposal by the EC that in some cases the official results have been published, but still no There may be a major complaint against a center or a parliamentary constituency. In that case, the commission can investigate the matter by suspending the gazette. The parliament has said that the gazette can be suspended, but not canceling the election of the entire parliamentary seat in the center where the results are believed to have been obstructed. CEC said that the result can be cancelled.

In response to criticism from election analysts that using the word polling instead of the word election in Article 91, the CEC said, “It is a misinterpretation. The commission replaced the word ‘election’ with the word ‘polling’ at three places. This is a typographical correction. There is a difference between correction and amendment. Amendments have policy elements, corrections are just corrections. I think it is sad to misinterpret it. This former law secretary said, “We should understand better than you. We have deliberately corrected it.’

CEC Kazi Habibul Awal said, “The misinterpretation is sad. I will work to ax myself in the foot, it is an unmistakable comment. The Commission may have made mistakes but it did not shoot itself in the foot. But it is not correct to interpret it in different ways.

CEC said, “The government has respected the commission. The EC could not have agreed to the proposed amendment. The EC’s proposal reflects the government’s goodwill. The proposal of the commission has been passed.

CEC said in response to the query that if there is no control before the election, the CEC said, “The new law has not been enacted, it has been thrown away.” If there is such an environment before the election, we will sit in the commission and take a decision.

The CEC said, “The EC has the jurisdiction to take decisions outside the law. Here lies the inherent power. In that situation, the commission will sit and decide according to the rules and regulations.

The CEC also said that the words ‘polling’ and ‘election’ will not cause any manipulation. Candidature can be canceled only by existing provisions. Sometimes, if a candidate dies, the entire seat has to be canceled and the election held. The EC can stop the election at any stage.