The Jatiya Sangsad (JS) on Tuesday passed the “Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill 2023” in order to ensure free, fair, and lawful national elections.
The “Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2023” was passed by Parliament on Tuesday, with the key amendments. The main amendment was enabling the Election Commission to postpone or revoke the results or voting of one or more polling stations in any number of constituencies on polling day, but not the entire election for a constituency along with stricter punishments for media and voter rights.
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Law Minister Anisul Huq moved the Bill in Parliament, which was approved by voice vote. “The proposed act is essential to establish a strong foundation for holding a free, fair and impartial national election,” law minister Anisul Huq said while submitting the Bill.
This resulted in changes to the Representation of the People Order, or RPO – the law governing elections in Bangladesh.
The amendments will take effect for the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for January 2024.
EC gets power to postpone or cancel election results for irregularities
The previous act’s section 91(A) contained ambiguity. Nevertheless, according to the RPO amendment bill presented to the parliament, the EC may defer or revoke the results in polling stations (one or more) subject to complaints and conduct new elections there if necessary.
However, the proposed law does not include a provision for the cancellation of an entire election for a constituency, as happened in October’s by-election in Gaibandha-5.
The law earlier stated, in Section 91A of the RPO, that the Commission may “stop the polls at any polling station [or entire constituency, as the case may be at any stage of the election if it is convinced that it shall not be able to ensure the conduct of the election justly, fairly and in accordance with law due to malpractices, including coercion, intimidation and pressures, prevailing at the election.”
Now, a new section has been added to the revised RPO. The new paragraph is — “The Commission may withhold the result of any polling station or polling stations, if it is convinced that the result of such polling station or polling stations was grossly prejudiced by malpractices including coercion, intimidation, manipulation or otherwise, and after prompt inquiry of the matter, in a manner as it may deem appropriate, direct publication of the result of such polling station or polling stations or declare the election of any such polling station or polling stations cancelled with direction for holding of a fresh poll in such polling station or polling stations, as that may seem to it to be just and appropriate.”
“Election” replaced with “Polling” in the amended RPO bill 2023
In subsection (a) of section 91 of the RPO, the proposed amendment proposed to substitute the term ‘voting’ for the word ‘election’. In this regard, EC officials explained that the term ‘election’ includes the entire election process, from the announcement of the schedule to the announcement of the results.
Stricter penalties for obstructing media and voter rights
The new provision also addresses the issue of punishing those who prevent the media from performing their “lawful” duty during an election.
The amended RPO also includes a new paragraph where it says that “If a person by threat, intimidation, hurt or otherwise by application of force, obstructs or tries to obstruct any person performing duties in connection with any election under this Order, or obstructs or tries to obstruct any representative of media or observer authorized by the Commission in connection with any election under this Order, and/or does any harm to his body or damage to his equipment related to performance of duty or prevents or tries to prevent any voter from going to polling station to cast vote or any candidate from submitting nomination paper, or compels or tries to compel any candidate to withdraw nomination paper, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and shall not be less than two years, and also with fine.”
Appeal for both accepted and cancelled nominations
In another notable modification, whereas under the previous RPO, the decision of a returning officer regarding the cancellation of a nomination paper could be disputed, under the amended law, the decision of a returning officer regarding the validity of a nomination paper can also be challenged.
Any decision made by a returning officer regarding the rejection or acceptance of nomination papers is subject to appeal.
Other modifications of the RPO bill 2023
A prospective Member of Parliament cannot be in default on a loan, and he must pay all past-due installments and utility expenses before submitting his nomination papers. Previously, these loans and bills were due seven days prior to the submission of the nomination document. The candidate must also include a TIN certificate and tax payment receipts with the nomination document.
According to the revised RPO, the EC may appoint a returning officer for one or more electoral districts. It is now constituency-based, whereas previously it was district-based.
Criticism and Counter
Criticizing the proposed Bill, opposition lawmaker Fakhrul Imam of Mymensingh-8 stated that the new amended Bill could curtail the election commission’s (EC) freedom, as the new law could be applied only to the specific polling stations where violence would occur, as opposed to all polling stations in a particular constituency.
In response, the Law Minister said that there were 100/140 polling centres in a constituency. Previously, if violence or irregularities occurred in three-quarters of polling centres, the election of all polling centres could be halted.
‘But that is against democracy. It is against people’s right to vote. Because there was no violence or irregularity in the rest. That is why it has been said that where there is violence or irregularities, they will stop. I did not understand why they say that the powers of the Election Commission have been curtailed. Their words are invalid.’
The minister stated that the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is committed to keeping the promise it made to the people regarding the conduct of free, fair, and impartial elections.
According to Anisul Huq, the amendment in question was not included in the RPO from 1972. The current Election Commission suggested this change. However, when it reached the Cabinet, the ‘undemocratic’ clause was amended.
To conclude, the recently passed “Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2023” aim to establish a strong foundation for conducting free, fair, and impartial national elections, fulfilling the government’s commitment to the people.
