NCP among 2 parties gets EC's registration

National Citizen Party (NCP) and Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Marxist) have been registered with the Election Commission (EC) ahead of the upcoming 13th national elections. Senior Secretary of the EC Secretariat Akhtar Ahmed revealed it at a press briefing in front of his office at Nirbachan Bhaban in the city's Agargaon area on Tuesday. The EC published a gazette regarding the registration of the two parties. 

Regarding the registration process of new parties on the eve of the 13th national elections, Akhtar Ahmed said the EC had started working on the registration of 143 political parties. In the first stage of review, he said, the EC rejected the applications of 121 parties.
 
Later, the commission started working on the registration of 22 parties and out of those, the EC published notices in newspapers about three parties, the EC official added.
 
Akhtar Ahmed said the names of the three parties are National Citizen Party (NCP), Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Marxist) and Bangladesh Aam Janagan Party. "We had given notices in the newspapers about these three parties. In its continuation, we received some objections about the Bangladesh Aam Janagan Party," he said.

The EC Secretary said no objection was received about the Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Marxist) and the NCP, so the Commission decided to register the NCP and the Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Marxist).He said the EC will decide further after reviewing the objections it received about the Bangladesh Aam Janagan Party.

Stating that further review is now underway regarding seven parties, the EC Secretary said 14 parties applied for review. Out of the 14 parties, he said, applications of seven parties were rejected in the first stage.

Responding to a question about referendum, the EC Secretary said, "We have not received any instructions regarding the referendum yet. As soon as we receive the instructions, we will inform you what instructions we have received and what our action plan is."

Replying to another question, he said in light of the work plan, the EC has been lagging behind in two things, so far,-- one is discussions with 
political parties and the other is finalization of observer organizations. "We are continuously holding talks with political parties," he added.