Staff Reporter:
The newly formed National Citizen Party (NCP) has formally requested a 90-day extension for submitting political party registration applications to the Election Commission (EC).
A delegation from the party is scheduled to meet Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin on Sunday to discuss the matter. A letter seeking the extension was submitted to the EC Secretary’s office on Thursday.
Ashraful Alam, private secretary to the CEC, and Sarwar Tushar, joint convener of NCP and co-coordinator of its Reform Coordination Committee, confirmed the development.
Speaking to reporters, the CEC’s private secretary said, “On Thursday afternoon, NCP submitted a letter requesting an extension of the deadline for completing reforms and submitting their registration application.”
He confirmed that the NCP delegation is scheduled to meet the CEC at 12 noon on Sunday.
NCP Joint Convener Sarwar Tushar said, “We’ve requested a minimum 90-day extension to accommodate essential reforms. Our team will meet with the Election Commission to express our concerns regarding the registration deadline and related issues.”
The EC invited applications from new political parties by 20 April for registration ahead of the upcoming national election. According to EC officials, the commission will wait until the existing deadline and review the overall situation before making further decisions. The EC had earlier issued a public notice on 10 March, inviting applications for party registration.
Meanwhile, in an official statement, NCP said the party was formed in response to public expectations following the historic July uprising. After the uprising, the interim government led by Prof Muhammad Yunus launched several reform initiatives, including the formation of a commission to reform the electoral system.
Although the commission submitted its recommendations, NCP claims that no visible progress has been made on implementing core electoral reforms.
“The sudden move by the EC to call for new party registrations without addressing the fundamental flaws in the electoral system is disappointing and unjustified,” the statement reads.
NCP further criticised the Political Party Registration Rules of 2008 as “unconstitutional and outdated,” arguing that they were introduced by a previous authoritarian regime to restrict political pluralism.
The party cited the Electoral Reform Commission’s proposals to simplify the registration process, including reducing the requirements for establishing offices in districts and upazilas and introducing mandatory registration renewal every five years.
“The registration process should begin only after necessary laws and rules are amended based on the Electoral Reform Commission’s recommendations,” NCP stated. In addition to seeking an extension of the deadline, the NCP called for a restructuring of the EC, comprehensive electoral reforms, registration of new political parties, and renewal of existing party registrations.
The party urged the EC to take immediate steps to implement these reforms and extend the application deadline by at least 90 days.
