Election Commission meets after ban on AL activities to focus on registration

The Election Commission (EC) has convened to discuss the registration of the Awami League as a political party after the interim government banned all activities of the party and its fronts until its trial at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is over.

The meeting began at 5:45pm on Monday in the office of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin at the Nirbachan Bhaban, or Election Building, in Dhaka’s Agargaon.

Earlier in the day, the CEC had said a decision on the party’s registration would be made only after the official notification is issued.

“You can’t make decisions just by watching the media,” Nasir added. “Once the gazette is issued, we’ll sit and decide. Let the notification come.

“It [EC] is denifitely a constitutional body. We are concerned, but we are waiting for the gazette notification to come.”

The commission sat for the meeting an hour after the gazette notification was published.

Officials said discussions are likely to prioritise revoking the registration of the Awami League, which led Bangladesh’s independence struggle.

The meeting was attended, among others, by Election Commissioners Anwarul Islam, Abdur Rahmanel Masud, Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed along with the CEC.

The commission is expected to brief the media after the meeting.

Earlier in the afternoon, the government issued the ban through a gazette notification under Section 18(1) of the amended Anti-Terrorism Act 2009, barring the Awami League and all its affiliated bodies from conducting any political activity.

The notification cited “enforced disappearances, killings, arson, mass murder, unlawful detentions, inhuman torture, looting, arson attacks, terrorist acts and crimes against humanity” committed during the crackdown on the July Uprising as reasons behind the action.

As a result, the Awami League—one of Bangladesh’s oldest political parties—is currently prohibited from carrying out any political activities or campaigns.

Steps are also under way to bring the party to trial for alleged crimes against humanity committed during the July protests.

The ICT Act has already been amended to facilitate this process.