The Election Commission (EC) yesterday invited Saifur Rahman-led faction of BNP to the electoral reform talks with the commission scheduled for November 22.
Through the move the EC officially recognised Saifur faction of BNP as the mainstream of the party.
Examining the constitution of BNP and the demands raised by both the factions of the troubled party, the EC also gave legitimacy to the decisions taken by the party's national standing committee (NSC) meeting held in Saifur Rahman's residence on October 29, which had appointed M Saifur Rahman and Hafizuddin Ahmed as the acting chairman and the acting secretary general respectively.
"The commission considers the decisions appropriate and it unanimously decided to send the invitation letter to the acting secretary general for joining the dialogue on behalf of BNP," EC Secretary Humayun Kabir disclosed to the media yesterday evening at a briefing.
The faction led by detained party chief Khaleda Zia appointed Secretary General Delwar Hossain rejected outright the EC's decision and announced that they will challenge it in the court, while Saifur-led faction welcomed the EC's decision and said the decision will inspire BNP leaders and activists across the country.
The EC secretary said the commission sent the invitation letter to the address of BNP's Acting Secretary General Hafizuddin Ahmed requesting him to send a ten-member delegation to the ongoing electoral reform talks with the commission.
Referring to the letters submitted by both the factions of BNP, the EC observed that it seems BNP is divided and both factions were interested in getting the EC's invitation for electoral reform talks, a development that was unwarranted for the commission, since it does not want to get involved in intra-party disputes of any political organisation.
"Two months have passed since the expulsion of Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan. The commission hoped that the party itself would be able to resolve its problems by this time. Unfortunately, the commission's hope was not fulfilled. Invitation must be sent to one of the factions for the sake of maintaining the roadmap [for electoral talks]," the EC said in a written statement, which was distributed among reporters.
Interpreting the provision 5 of BNP's constitution, the EC observed, "It seems the BNP chairperson took into cognisance the section partially, ignoring the provision of allowing the accused to defend himself. Through the process, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan was deprived of natural justice," the EC continued.
Despite section 5 of the party constitution being ignored by Khaleda Zia, the EC thinks it is mandatory to take approval of the national standing committee as soon as possible to ratify such a punitive action.
"The commission thinks that the mandatory provision was met by the meeting of the BNP national standing committee. Three of the surviving14 members of the national standing committee are in jail and two did not attend the meeting. A total of seven members attended the meeting, a number sufficient for fulfilling the quorum requirement," the EC argued in defence of its decision.
The October 29 national standing committee meeting of BNP did not ratify the expulsion of erstwhile secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and joint secretary general Ashraf Hossain by now detained BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
Meanwhile one of the standing committee members, Dr R A Gani, who attended the October 29 meeting and known as a Khaleda loyalist, yesterday said that was an informal meeting and the decisions taken by it are invalid since the meeting was not convened by the chairperson.
When the EC secretary's attention was drawn to the controversy over the legitimacy of the BNP standing committee's meeting itself, he declined to give any clarification. "You can ask the commission about it. I am not going to give any clarification."
Khaleda Zia on September 3, the day she was detained by the joint forces, disclosed that she had expelled Bhuiyan and Ashraf from the party on charges of violating party discipline, and had appointed Khandaker Delwar Hossain as the new secretary general.
Bhuiyan loyalists rejected outright the BNP chairperson's decision and claimed themselves as the mainstream of the party.
Since then both the factions embarked on a manoeuvring race to win the EC's invitation, as the coveted invitation was being considered as the authoritative recognition as the mainstream of the party. Both the factions submitted several letters to the EC claiming themselves as mainstreams of the party in efforts to get the invitation.
With the EC's decision to invite Saifur-led faction to the dialogue, the race for recognition apparently ended putting Saifur's faction in an advantageous position regarding getting registered with the EC as the mainstream of BNP, and for having the right to use the electoral symbol of a sheaf of paddy as its symbol in the next parliamentary polls.
Besides, Saifur-led faction will be authorised to use the party's central office, which has been under lock and key since the emergence of the dispute between the factions led by Bhuiyan and Delwar.
A senior leader of Saifur faction said they will now ask the authorities to allow them to use the BNP central office in Naya Paltan area of the capital.
If Khaleda recognises the committee led by Saifur, there will be no major division in BNP, but if she stands by Delwar, then the faction led by Delwar will face a number of major difficulties in being registered with the EC as a parliamentary political party.
According to the EC's proposed laws for political parties' registration, if Delwar-led faction is not recognised as part of BNP, then they will have to take a new name and meet certain criteria for registration that is to be made mandatory for a political party seeking to contest the next polls.
The EC's draft electoral reform proposal says a party lacking representation in any of the previous parliaments, must have committees in at least 32 districts with 1,000 members in each, to be eligible for registration with the commission. Besides, the party must have committees in all upazilas of those districts with at least 200 members in each committee.
WHO IS RIGHT?
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda on Sunday told reporters that no decision was taken regarding which faction of BNP would be invited to the talks. "A decision will be taken in a day or two," CEC Huda said adding, "I will collect more information since I need to know more about the matter."
Asked how the commission would take a decision in absence of the two election commissioners, Muhammed Sohul Hussain and M Sakhawat Hussain, who were scheduled to leave Dhaka for the UK the very next day, the CEC said the two commissioners had already given their opinions on the issue.
But, the EC secretary at the news briefing yesterday claimed that the commission took the decision at Sunday's meeting. "The commission unanimously took the decision," the secretary claimed.
Election commissioners -- Sohul and Sakhawat --- left Dhaka yesterday morning for the UK on a two-week tour to study the feasibility of registering as voters the Bangladeshi citizens living in the UK.
The CEC yesterday went to his office and talked to senior EC officials. When a group of journalists sought his appointment through his personal secretary, the CEC asked them through the personal secretary to come at a later hour.
When the journalists returned for a meeting with the CEC in late afternoon, his personal secretary asked them to wait in the conference room for a briefing. As the journalists were waiting there expecting to meet the CEC, the EC secretary walked in to brief them, informing them that the CEC had already left the building.
CEC Huda is scheduled to leave Dhaka tomorrow for Thailand on a personal tour and is scheduled to return on November 11.
For the first time in the history of the Election Commission of Bangladesh, the full commission will be out of the country for at least five days, officials of the EC secretariat said.
