Election financing
During the second round of talks on electoral reforms with the Election Commission, the Awami League (AL) proposed that the parties that obtained 10% of the vote in last election should be allocated Tk 15 lakh for each candidate they would field and Tk 50 crore for central engineering from the state fund. According to this proposal only the AL and the BNP qualify for the funds from public i.e. state exchequer. If accepted, these two parties would receive Tk 190 crore from the government for 300 candidates they normally nominate in the parliamentary election.
Not a bad idea but where the money will come from! When paying taxes we know that many of the members of parliament did not have TIN and didn't even bother to pay telephone and other utility bills for years together. Now their parties are proposing that the state bear the costs to elect them to parliament. Probably the general people did not forget what happened during the last election nomination business of these two parties when transaction of crores of taka took place and money power was the major factor in choosing the candidates.
But the other proposal that the EC organise projection or publicity meetings for the candidates and paste election posters for them in designated areas deserves to be considered seriously. If this is done impartially then the people will get correct information about all the candidates and be able to cast their votes in favour of the qualified ones. The EC can take assistance of other government organs during the short period of election campaign to do this job which will result in lower expenses on the part of the candidates. Many professional organisations in our country and abroad follow such norms in the election process.
The proposal of the EC about election spending including the maximum limit seems to be realistic and the political parties should accept this so that it does not become a game of moneyed men only!
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