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Ahead of the Thirteenth National Parliament Election in Bangladesh, the Election Commission (EC) has been accused of allowing dual citizens to participate in the election under the pressure of some political parties.
About two dozen candidates are getting a chance to participate in the elections despite allegations of dual citizenship regarding this opportunity.
Along with this, the allegation of allowing loan defaulters to participate in the elections under the pressure of a party has also been discussed.
According to the electoral law of Bangladesh, if someone has a foreign citizenship to participate in the parliamentary elections, it is mandatory to renounce it, but the Election Commission has not followed it properly.
The constitution of Bangladesh also states that a person cannot be a candidate in the national parliament elections if he has the citizenship of any country other than Bangladesh.
Election experts, however, say that there is ambiguity in the law regarding relinquishment of dual citizenship for elections, and the Election Commission has basically given the opportunity to dual citizens to participate in the elections.
After the decision of the commission on Sunday, on the last day of the 9-day appeal hearing against the order to accept or cancel the nomination papers of the returning officer in the National Parliament election, the criticism discussion started.
However, after the hearing on Sunday, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin said that they did not give any biased verdict.
“We did a lot of analysis that we thought was right, in the light of understanding, capacity from Allah Ta’ala,” he said.
image source, BBC/MUKIMUL AHSAN
Political pressure and dual citizenship
The Election Commission has canceled the nomination papers of BNP’s Comilla-10 seat candidate Abdul Gafur Bhuiyan. He was appealed on charges of dual citizenship. However, the reason why his nomination paper was rejected was that he did not appear for the appeal hearing.
Besides, the commission has suspended the decision regarding the candidature of Comilla-3 constituency BNP candidate Kazi Shah Mofazzal Hussain Kaykobad to verify his relinquishment of Turkish citizenship.
However, apart from these two, at least 20 other candidates of different political parties were accused of dual citizenship. The nomination papers of some of them were canceled by the Returning Officer.
Again, after the nomination papers of some survived, allegations of dual citizenship were filed against them by other candidates.
But on January 13th, a delegation of the party led by BNP National Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan met the CEC. After that meeting Mr. Khan told the press briefing that they asked not to create complications with dual citizenship.
“Some candidates have dual citizenship problem. According to the constitution, if he renounces his citizenship, he will be eligible for election. It is said in the RPO, if a candidate has dual citizenship, it must be mentioned in the affidavit. But in the election affidavit, only yes or no is mentioned. All other documents are not asked to be submitted. That is why some returning officers have invalidated the candidature,” said Mr. eat
He further said, “Their (those who have dual citizenship) candidatures are also being cancelled. But the law should be equal for all. Two people from Jamaat-e-Islami have been canceled for the same reason. We think they should also be given a chance to review. We have requested that there should not be any complications”.
Sources of BNP and Election Commission say that BNP advised the commission to be flexible on the issue of dual citizenship in that meeting.
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However, the situation became somewhat complicated after the Jamaat-e-Islami nominated candidate of the constituency appealed to the Election Commission against the candidature of BNP candidate Abdul Awal Mintu of Feni-3 constituency alleging dual citizenship.
The appeal petition said, “Abdul Awal Mintoo has dual citizenship in the United States. But, in the affidavit, he concealed that information. In the affidavit, Mintoo claimed that he revoked his US citizenship on December 9. But on December 4, Abdul Awal Mintoo went to Thailand using a US passport.”
Earlier on Saturday, during the hearing of the appeal filed against the validity of the nomination papers of BNP candidate Afroza Khanam of Manikganj-3 seat by alleging dual citizenship, a tense situation was created between various parties.
Among these various incidents, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir went to the Election Commission and held a meeting with the CEC on Sunday afternoon.
Apart from this, BNP’s affiliated organization Chhatra Dal started holding a sit-in program in front of the Election Commission from Sunday morning with three-point demands.
Mr. After the meeting with Alamgir, the commission again met among itself and later that evening, the commission started adjudicating the appeals one by one seeking cancellation of candidature on the charge of dual citizenship.
It can be seen that among those against whom there was a complaint of dual citizenship, the commission validated the candidature of all except Abdul Gafur Bhuiyan and Mofazzal Hossain Kaykobad.
Even two Jamaat candidates who had earlier been canceled by the Returning Officer on this complaint got their candidatures back.
According to EC sources, after a meeting with the BNP Secretary General, the Commission decided on its own criteria to validate the candidature of candidates with dual citizenship.
And that is – those who applied for relinquishment of dual citizenship and submitted the fee before the last day of submission of nomination papers on 29th December, their nomination papers will be declared valid.
In the end, due to the implementation of this policy, the Election Commission declared the candidature of at least 20 candidates who had allegations of dual citizenship as valid.
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EC has taken advantage of the legal ambiguity?
Election expert Dr. Abdul Alim says that the Election Commission has taken this decision by taking advantage of the ambiguity in the law.
Incidentally, article 66 of the constitution states that if you have dual citizenship, you cannot participate in national elections, that means you cannot become a member of parliament.
Besides, it has been said in the RPO that if a candidate has dual citizenship, it should be mentioned in the affidavit. That is why there is a specific room in the affidavit of the candidates for the parliamentary elections. Where every candidate has to clearly mention the issues of dual citizenship.
Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Machaud also recently told BBC Bangla, “In our country, the fact that dual citizens cannot be candidates in the national elections is recognized by the law and the constitution. So if someone does not renounce his citizenship, then he cannot be a candidate in the national elections”.
But there is no provision for the candidates to submit any other proofs after applying for renunciation of citizenship of another country whether the application has been accepted or not, i.e. whether the citizenship of the concerned person has been relinquished or not.
And on Sunday, the commission also fixed the criteria for the validity of the candidature – the candidature of those who have applied until the last day of submission of nomination papers will be declared valid.
In this way, taking advantage of the ambiguity of the law, the Commission has created an opportunity for candidates who have complaints of dual citizenship to participate in the election, according to election expert Dr. Abdul Alim.
On the other hand, a total of 421 candidates, including some accused of defaulting, had their candidatures withdrawn by appealing against the Returning Officer’s decision on the validity of nominations.
After the hearing on Sunday, Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah himself said that they gave exemption to the defaulting candidates with pain in their hearts.
“We have exempted the debtors, we have made them suffer. Only because the law permits them,” he said.
The EC has allowed the appeal filed against the validity of nomination papers of BNP candidate Sarwar Alamgir for Chittagong-2 constituency due to default. But the nomination paper of BNP candidate Aslam Chowdhury in Chittagong-4 seat has been declared valid. Mr. Two banks appealed to the EC seeking cancellation of Chowdhury’s nomination papers.
After the hearing, Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel decided to uphold the nomination of BNP candidate Aslam Chowdhury. At the same time, he warned the candidate, “I have validated the nomination paper. Give me the bank money”.
https://www.bbc.com/bengali/articles/c2lgpgrggj5o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
