EC sets August deadline for field probe in new party registration process

The Election Commission (EC) has set Aug 31 as the deadline for its personnel to submit field investigation reports on 22 political parties still under review for new registration.

The reports will verify the existence and activities of the parties’ district and sub-district offices on the ground.

On Monday, Md Delwar Hossain, senior assistant secretary of the EC, sent letters to the relevant officers instructing them to conduct the field investigations.

According to the letters, senior district election officers, district election officers, or additional district election officers will be responsible for preparing the district-level reports.

“They will complete the designated checklist, number all documents, seal them and send them in a special envelope to the regional election officer,” it read.

Regional election officers will then forward the sealed documents confidentially to the EC Secretariat.

Election officers at the Upazila level will carry out similar investigations, filling out the checklist, sealing the documents, and submitting them to the district election officers.

The district officers will compile and forward all reports to the EC Secretariat afterwards.

EC officials said the registration process for new political parties will move to the next stage only after receiving these field inquiry reports.

Earlier, 143 parties were asked to submit missing information to support their registration applications.

Of these, 121 parties’ applications were rejected, and the EC is now conducting field investigations on the remaining 22 parties to finalise their registration.

According to the law, a party seeking registration must have a central committee, committees in at least one-third of the districts, and 100 Upazila committees, each with proof of support from at least 200 registered voters.