Code of Conduct to Be Amended to Allow Candidates to Possess Weapons
Ahead of the 13th parliamentary election, the Election Commission (EC) has said that the code of conduct may be amended if necessary in the interest of ensuring the security of candidates.
Relevant officials of the EC said that the code of conduct would need to be amended regarding candidates possessing weapons, because there is no opportunity for any candidate to legally carry weapons during election campaigning. For this reason, the Election Commission (EC) Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said that, if necessary, the code of conduct would be amended regarding the possession of weapons by parliamentary election candidates. He made the remarks on Wednesday yesterday while responding to a question from journalists during a discussion at the Election Building.
Recently, the interim government’s Adviser for Home Affairs, Lieutenant General Md. Jahangir Alam (Retd.) Chowdhury, said that permission would be granted if national election candidates seek licenses for personal firearms. He also said that weapons deposited earlier would be returned to those who had submitted them. Following this, a policy guideline was also issued by the ministry.
The EC Secretary said, “We all would certainly agree that the issue of security should be given priority. And at present, we do not see any conflict with the code of conduct in this regard. If it is felt that over the period of time a minor addition or subtraction is needed in any part of the code of conduct, we will do that.” When the provision of depositing licensed weapons before the election was mentioned, the EC Secretary said that when the matter of depositing licensed weapons becomes relevant, and if it is felt that national security considerations need to be taken into account, then measures will be taken accordingly.
