EC moves to amend RPO again ahead of election, referendum schedules

As preparations advance for the general and the national referendum, the Election Commission (EC) is bringing yet another round of amendments to electoral laws and rules.

Following the inclusion of postal voting, the EC says the Representation of the People Order (RPO) needs to be aligned with the recently issued Referendum Ordinance.

Election Commission Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said on Wednesday: “Because of the referendum, we have to amend the RPO again. The amendment will go to the Advisory Council meeting on Thursday. Changes are being made until the last moment. Some linguistic corrections are also being brought into the code of conduct. This is a continuous process.”

EC officials said the amendment will propose changes to articles concerning the casting and counting of postal ballots.

Once everything is finalised, the EC will discuss the schedule at its meeting on Dec 7.

The election schedule, expected in the second week of December, comes as preparations enter their final stage ahead of the first half of February.

Legal and regulatory reform took place between September and November. The RPO Amendment Ordinance was issued on Nov 3, followed by the new Political Party and Candidate Code of Conduct 2025 on Nov 10. The Referendum Ordinance was issued on Nov 25.

Under the amended RPO, persons declared “absconding” by a court are barred from voting.

More than a decade later, the definition of “law-enforcer” has again been expanded to include the armed forces, while a “No” vote option has been introduced for single-candidate constituencies.

The amendments also include provisions for re-election in the event of a tie and for coalition candidates to contest under their own party symbol.

Based on the amended RPO, the EC has drafted the Party and Candidate Code of Conduct.

During dialogues with political parties, several recommendations were raised. Some parties criticised the “clerical errors” in the code of conduct, which bans posters and limits use of billboards during election campaigns.

Representatives proposed allowing billboards in each ward and increasing the permitted number of loudspeakers.

To address ambiguities in the RPO amendments and Code of Conduct, proposed corrections were sent to the law ministry last week. Amending the RPO Ordinance requires the Advisory Council’s approval, while the EC may modify the code of conduct after vetting by the ministry.

Proposed amendments to Article 27 of the RPO include:

Postal ballots without a cross or tick mark beside a symbol will not be counted.

If a court ruling alters the candidate list in a constituency, accumulated postal ballots for that seat will also be excluded from the count.

A postal ballot will not be counted if the voter’s signature is missing on the accompanying declaration form.

Article 27 also introduces IT-supported postal voting. Expatriates, government personnel posted outside their constituencies, and individuals in prison or custody will be able to vote via postal ballot.

EC officials have identified clerical errors in clause 3 of Rule 4; clauses (Ka), (Kha), (Ga), (Gha) of Rule 6; clause (Ga) of Rule 9; and clause 3 of Rule 26.

Phrases such as “cannot do” instead of “cannot be done”, “may do” instead of “can do”, and “must do” instead of “may do” are being corrected.

In Rule 14(b), the EC has proposed allowing “one billboard per ward of each union, municipality or metropolitan area, or up to 20 across the constituency (whichever is higher)”. If approved, candidates will be able to use one billboard per ward.

An amendment to clause 1 of Rule 17 is also proposed to increase the permitted number of loudspeakers in election campaigning.

On the provision requiring coalition candidates to contest under their own party symbols, an election commissioner said no amendment has been proposed, despite lobbying by the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, National Citizen Party (NCP), and others.