Tasneem Zara's anger over nomination process for independent candidates, complaint against Election Commission

Tasneem Zara, the recently resigned leader of the National Citizen Party (NCP), has expressed dissatisfaction with the Election Commission over the process of submitting nominations for independent candidates. While preparing to file her nomination as a potential independent candidate for Dhaka-9 constituency, she has raised serious questions about the rules and actual process set by the Election Commission.

According to the Election Commission rules, to become an independent candidate in Bangladesh, one must submit the signatures or support of at least 1 percent of the total voters of the respective constituency. Along with this, it is mandatory to submit an affidavit, necessary documents, income tax return, asset statement and a photograph in a specific format. However, this condition of 1 percent of voters' signatures does not apply if the member of parliament was elected earlier.

According to this rule, Tasneem Zara started collecting signatures of voters in her constituency Khilgaon from Sunday (December 28). However, within a day, she expressed dissatisfaction with the entire process. On Monday (December 29), she stated that in reality, these rules are being implemented in a way that has become almost impossible for an independent candidate.

Tasneem Zara said that the voter serial number is mandatory along with the signature of the voters. However, none of the five ways to get this voter serial number is effective. According to her, although voter numbers are supposed to be obtained through a total of five methods including SMS, online, phone call, QR code, in reality all the ways are blocked.

She alleged that voter numbers are not available online as the Election Commission's website server is down. The same situation is true for other alternative methods. Tasneem Zara claimed, "I want to be an independent candidate, but getting voter numbers has been made impossible. Every way has been blocked."

Meanwhile, the shortage of time has made this crisis more complicated. As today is the last day for filing nominations, there is a strong doubt as to whether it will be possible to collect the required number of voter serial numbers at all. As a result, the question of whether equal opportunities are being ensured for independent candidates in the electoral arena has also come to the fore.

According to political analysts, Tasnim Zara's allegations may spark a new debate about the role and preparation of the Election Commission in the nomination process of independent candidates.