By Shahadat Hossain
Dhaka : Ahead of the upcoming 13th national parliamentary election, the Election Commission has proposed amending the Representation of the People Order (RPO) to bring back the ‘no vote’ option in national elections, as well as cancelling provisions on using electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Election Commissioner Brigadier General (retd) Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah made the announcement this evening after the commission’s meeting at the EC office in Agargaon, Dhaka today (11 August).
“If there is only one candidate in a constituency, they will not be elected unopposed. They will have to compete against the ‘no vote’, and if ‘no’ gets highest votes, polls in that constituency will be held again,” he said.
The ‘no vote’ system was introduced months before the December 2008 election as citizens’ rights to say no against all candidates on the ballot, if they didn’t like any of them.
If the symbol for ‘none of the above candidates’, known as the ‘No’ vote, in any constituency registered more than 50% of votes cast, the returning officer would cancel the results of that seat and a re-vote would be held, according to the provision repealed by the Hasina government in February 2009.
Later, in the 10th parliamentary election in 2014, candidates in 153 constituencies were elected as member of parliaments uncontested.
Sanaullah said the proposed amendment in the RPO also includes the restoration of EC’s authority to annul the results of an entire constituency in case of electoral irregularities.
He also stated that 22 new political parties that applied for registration have passed the EC’s initial screening. The commission will make the final decision after field-level verification, he added.
The election commissioner further said, “The commission has accepted the reform proposal which states that even if parties contest in a coalition, each political party will use its own reserved symbol and will not contest under any single common symbol.”
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