The Election Commission (EC) has decided to file 40 more cases over the violation of electoral code of conduct as it adopted a hard line this time ahead of the 12th parliamentary elections.
At least eight cases have been filed against the polls code violators till Thursday morning.
The EC first preferred to give show-cause notices to the violators of the electoral code of conduct but they are now taking strict action against the violators.
This is for the first time that the EC has formed electoral inquiry committees for all 300 constituencies consisting of judicial magistrates to conduct a smooth election.
They also deployed around 800 executive magistrates to check the violation of the electoral code of conduct at the field level.
The inquiry committees have been investigating election-related crimes, breaches of the code of conduct, and any anomalies in arranging a fair election and submitting comprehensive reports to the EC.
After receiving the replies to notices, an inquiry committee sends the report to the EC. Based on the comprehensive report, the commission fined AKM Bahauddin Bahar, a current lawmaker and Awami League candidate from Cumilla-6 constituency, Tk 1lakh and Dhirendranath Shambhu, AL candidate in Barguna-1, Tk50,000.
Besides, the EC has filed cases against AL candidates Mostafizur Rahman in Chattogram-16 constituency and Abdul Hai in Jhenaidah-1 for violating the code of conduct.
The election enquiry committees have sent show-cause notices to 589 people till Wednesday.
The commission received reports of 384 notices, said Abdus Salam, deputy secretary of the law wing of the EC.
This time, the maximum number of show-cause notices was served to 131 persons in Dhaka region while 40 in Rangpur region, 81 in Cumilla, 24 in Faridpur, 38 in Chattogram, 21 in Sylhet, 28 in Barishal, 59 in Khulna, 103 in Rajshahi and 64 in Mymensingh, according to the EC.
Among them, the EC cancelled the candidature of one candidate and three candidates were summoned to the EC.
According to the Representation of the People Order, the EC can give necessary instructions to persons concerned, candidates and political parties based on the recommendations from the election inquiry committee. The commission may impose a fine of Tk20,000 to Tk100,000 or cancel the candidacy of contenders involved in the violation of the electoral code of conduct.
According to the electoral code of conduct, there are provisions for imposing a fine of a maximum of Tk50,000 or a maximum of six months of imprisonment in case a candidate or any person on behalf of the candidate violates the electoral code of conduct. The fine is Tk50,000 in the case of political parties.