EC uncertain over RPO amendment before polls

Election Commission is uncertain whether it will be possible to amend the Representation of the People Order (RPO) ahead of the 11th parliamentary election expected in December.

"After we receive the review report on the proposed amendment from the Commission’s sub-committee concerned, it will be clear whether the RPO amendment can be done before the election," Election Commission Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed said on Thursday, in response to a journalist’s question as to whether the Commission will get adequate time to have the proposed amendment passed by the House.

Election Commission has yet to finalize the draft of the amendment though it was scheduled to be finalized by last December as per an electoral roadmap of the commission.

On April 9, the sub-committee, formed to reform electoral laws and rules, produced a set of proposals concerning the RPO amendment. The committee, headed by Election Commissioner Kabita Khanam, put forward a total of 35 proposals.

The commission held discussions on those proposals and sent them back for further review, Helaluddin said.

No timeframe has been fixed for the committee to submit the review report, but it was requested to submit the report as early as possible, he added.

Meanwhile, Helaluddin told the Dhaka Tribune that they would soon take an initiative to produce a Bangla version of the RPO.

The Election Commission official said: “The existing RPO is written only in English. As many of the public representatives in our country do not have adequate knowledge of English language, we decided to translate the RPO into Bangla so that they can easily understand it.

“An expert will be tasked with the translation. Once the task is completed, we will send it to parliament for approval.”