Editorial
BNP's dithering on commitment unfortunate
Election Commission must hold its ground
AS the deadline draws close for political parties to submit their amended, ratified constitutions to the Election Commission, questions have cropped up about the inability of some parties to comply with the EC's instructions vis-à-vis the deadline for amending and ratifying their constitutions by July 25. The Awami League has gone for a council meeting on July 24 to ratify the changes in its constitution before meeting the EC deadline. We understand that some other parties are also on track to meet the deadline. But what is certainly galling for the nation are the delaying tactics employed by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party regarding bringing about changes to its own constitution. Of course, there can be no denying the fact that problems within the party have detracted it from holding a council meeting to ratify the changes in its constitution. But that cannot logically explain away the BNP's negative attitude towards standing by a commitment it has already made. Prior to the December 2008 elections, the party along with other parties pledged to go through a democratization of its constitution within six months of the polls.
On Wednesday, the BNP secretary general did not help matters when he wondered aloud if it would not be possible for the EC to extend the time frame for amending and ratifying the party constitution by another six months, meaning till December. To make matters even more worrisome, the party now sees in the Awami League's move for a council meeting on July 24 a conspiracy, indeed collusion between it and the EC to marginalize the BNP. Such an assessment is not only regrettable but plainly puerile. And by coming forth with this kind of attitude, the BNP has not demonstrated the sagacity expected of a major political party that has previously, and more than once, been in power.
Such an episode reflects concerns about the future functioning of the EC as an independent and otherwise fully empowered election body. In such circumstances, it is critically important that the Election Commission keep itself focused on what it originally set out to do, namely, getting the parties to register themselves and then following it up by ensuring internal democratic practices within themselves. Under the rules, the EC has no jurisdiction to extend the time frame for parties to amend and ratify their constitutions unless an amendment is brought to the Representation of People Order. We fail to understand under what rationale the BNP is placing the EC in a constitutional dilemma.
We would have been sympathetic towards BNP's effort to get a time extension, if the party were seen by now to have initiated any serious move to abide by the self-committed obligation.
We are, however, in favour of a limited relaxation of the deadline on the basis of a public undertaking given by the party/parties concerned to the EC that it/they will meet the RPO requirement unfailingly within the extended time-limit.
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