Representatives of political parties on Monday recommended revising several electoral codes of conduct, including those on the use of posters and security deposits, in the interest of contestants from small parties and rural constituencies.
They made the recommendations during meetings聽with the Election Commission at Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital鈥檚 Agargaon area.
The commission held dialogue on Monday for the third day聽with 11 more registered political parties ahead of the 13th national election planned for early February next year.
The parties included Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Bangladesh Kallyan Party, Bangladesh Muslim League, Amar Bangladesh Party, Bangladesh Islami Front, Khelafat Majlis, and Jatiya Ganatantrik Party-Jagpa.
The commission began the dialogue with political parties on November 13.
At the beginning of the dialogue, chief election commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said, 鈥楾he hope for holding a peaceful and credible JS elections would turn into uncertainty if the political parties do not want it.鈥�
Bangladesh Kalyan Party faction chairman Major General (retired)聽Syed Muhammad Ibrahim recommended wider publicity of the electoral code of conduct, social media monitoring, and creating a system for taking action immediately after detecting violations.
He praised the initiative to introduce out-of-country voting and postal ballots, but advised extra caution regarding the security and accounting mechanisms of postal ballots.
Earlier, another faction of the Bangladesh Kalyan Party, led by Shamsuddin Parvez, submitted a letter to the Election Commission protesting against inviting Ibrahim to the EC dialogue.
Bikalpadhara Bangladesh secretary general, retired Major Abdul Mannan, recommended that the commission set examples of cancelling candidacy for violating the electoral code of conduct.
Regarding campaigning posters, he requested the commission to take a practical decision, saying that, except for the big parties, the small political parties heavily depend on posters.
The updated electoral code of conduct states that no posters, banners, leaflets, handbills, festoons, and plastic or PVC-coated materials can be used in the election campaigning.
AB Party general secretary Asaduzzaman Fuaad demanded security for electoral campaigners, strict control over the use of undisclosed money, 聽and restrictions on using government installations and religious and educational institutions for election campaigning.
Jagpa vice-president Rashed Pradhan recommended that the security deposit for contesting the JS polls be Tk聽20,000, instead of Tk聽50,000, saying that paying a 鈥榖ig鈥� amount of security deposit would not be possible for many candidates of small parties from rural areas.
On November 19, the EC would hold dialogue sessions with political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, and the National Citizen Party.
