The deadline to apply for registering new political parties with the Election Commission (EC) ends today (Sunday).
Parties that have expressed interest in registration ahead of the upcoming national election must submit their applications by the end of the day. The EC will not accept any applications after the deadline.
Once the application period closes, the EC will begin preliminary scrutiny of the submitted documents.
The Electoral Reform Commission, formed under the interim government, has recommended easing some of the existing conditions for party registration. However, those recommendations have not yet been implemented. Accordingly, the EC has invited applications under the existing rules.
On March 10, the EC issued a public notice seeking applications from new parties for registration. Initially, the deadline was set for April 20. Following requests from various parties, the deadline was later extended to June 22.
The National Citizens’ Party (NCP), formed by leaders of last year’s July uprising, is expected to submit its registration application to the EC today.
Typically, the EC invites applications for new party registration before a national election. The submitted applications are first screened for compliance with legal and procedural requirements. Incomplete or improperly submitted applications are rejected during this phase.
Applications that pass the initial scrutiny are then subject to field-level verification by EC officials—primarily to confirm whether the party has an operational office at the grassroots level. After verification, a report is presented to the commission, which then grants or denies registration approval.
Currently, there are 50 registered political parties with the EC. Among them, the registration of the Awami League is currently suspended. Most of the parties that applied this year are nominal or little-known.
Before the last national election, 93 parties applied for registration, but 81 were disqualified during the initial document screening. In the end, only two little-known parties received registration.
Bd-pratidin English/FNC
