Staff Correspondent

Enlargement of parliament or making it bicameral and abrogation of Article 70 of the Constitution will be among the recommendations the Election Commission is preparing to send to the government. 'We are going to send a report to the government in which we will incorporate the issues that are beyond our mandate.

The issues are like increasing the number of parliamentary seats and abrogating Article 70 of the Constitution,' chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda said at a briefing at the EC conference room Wednesday. Recommendation for barring war criminals from elections will also be there, he said.

Asked whether the top election office had any specific recommendation on Article 70, which restricts parliament members from floor crossing, he said that they had not yet decided on it. 'We'll sit and give opinion on it,' he added.

The CEC said that the report would be prepared on the basis of the dialogues between the EC and political parties. 'The chief adviser is waiting for the end of our dialogue… Even the next political government can work on the report,' he said.

His deputies, election commissioners Muhammed Sohul Hussain and M Sakhawat Hussain, were present at the briefing on the occasion of launching the reconstructed EC website www.ecs.gov.bd About the stalled dialogue with BNP, the CEC said they are waiting for the court decision on the issue.

The second round of dialogue with political parties is scheduled for February 24-28. As per its work schedules, the commission is to finalise the draft of electoral reform proposals by March.

'There is no bar on completing the task without holding dialogue with BNP… It is one of the biggest parties and dialogue has to be held with them… Now, the commission has fallen in a dilemma,' he said.

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