Dhaka: The 12-party alliance today called upon the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to take necessary measures to reinstate the previous provision of Article 20 of the Representation of the People Order (RPO). In this regard, the alliance formally submitted a letter to the CEC's office at the Election Building in the capital's Agargaon area.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the letter stated, 'We strongly opposed to the recent amendment to the RPO that requires--each constituent party in an electoral alliance to use its own party symbol in the election--this change is completely unacceptable to us.' The amendment to Article 20 of the RPO regarding alliance-based elections mandates that a candidate nominated by an alliance must contest under his or her own party's electoral symbol. The 12-party alliance stands firmly against this change.
The alliance highlighted that in past national elections, different political parties contested the polls under their own or another allied party's symbol, considering it their political and democratic right. The letter further explained that the main objective of forming an alliance is to win the election and allied parties should have the right to choose symbols as per their preference.
The letter emphasized, 'This has long been the established practice and has never caused any problem. We fail to understand the necessity behind changing this conventional system.' The 12-party alliance believes that this amendment to the RPO has undermined the democratic rights of political parties.
The alliance asserted that if political parties have the right to form alliances and contest elections jointly, they should also have the democratic right to choose whether to contest under their own or any allied party's symbol. The 12-party alliance sees no justification for curtailing this right. 'Therefore, we specially urge the Election Commission to take necessary measures to reinstate the previous provision of Article 20 of the RPO,' the letter concluded.