The Election Commission (EC) will fix a date in the first week of July to seek applications from new political parties that wish to be registered. EC sources said they have plans to register new political parties so that those can take part in the 11th parliamentary polls. They also said they have this plan in their seven-point roadmap, which would be finalised in the first week of July. Currently, there are 40 registered political parties with the EC. The Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNP) was the last party to be registered on November 18, 2013.
It may be mentioned that the registration of the Jamaat-e-Islami was cancelled by a High Court order on August 1, 2013 for opposing the independence of Bangladesh. Many of the party's leaders faced trials and had been convicted by special war crimes tribunals. During the reign of the Army-backed caretaker government in 2008, the registration of political parties with the EC was made mandatory for contesting the parliamentary polls. Local government polls like city corporation, municipality and upazila parishad elections are also held under the political banner these days.
The EC said the registration of political parties would be completed as per the Political Party Registration Rules, 2008 and the Representation of the People (RPO) following all necessary requirements. According to Section 90(B) of the RPO, a party must have a central committee and committees in at least 21 districts and 100 upazilas, each of which must have at least 200 members, to be able to register with the EC.  
If any political party intends to be registered, it has to give a fee of Tk. 5,000 to the commission as per Political Party Registration Rules. This fee is returnable if the application is not accepted. Besides, the RPO’s Article 90 (B) states that the party must secure at least one seat with its electoral symbol in any parliamentary election held since the independence of Bangladesh and/or ensure 5 per cent of total votes cast in constituencies where its candidates contested any of the aforesaid parliamentary elections.
“We'll issue a mass circular, seeking applications for registration of fresh political parties. The date of issuing the circular will be fixed in the first week of July when the EC’s roadmap would be finalised,” EC secretary Muhammad Abdullah told The Independent yesterday. “All new political parties will have the opportunity to submit applications for the registration,” he said.
Asked if any fresh political party has already applied for registration, Abdullah said: “We don’t have any pending application so far. We’ll float a fresh circular for the registration.”
He, however, mentioned that any political party that intends to be registered has to abide by the rules and regulations. Asked whether there would be any change in the Political Party Registration Rules, 2008, Abdullah said the EC has formed four committee, one of which would assess the rules and laws. If it is deemed necessary to amend anything, steps would be taken accordingly, he added.
Earlier, the chief election commissioner, Nurul Huda, told the media their biggest challenge is to convince all political parties to take part in the next parliamentary polls. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and some others did not take part in the 10th general election, where 153 lawmakers were elected uncontested. Besides the two main political alliance—the Awami League-led 14-party Alliance and the BNP-led 20-party Alliance—the Jatiya Party has recently floated a new political coalition named the “United National Alliance”  with 15 parties.  If partners in this alliance want to contest the next parliamentary polls under their own banners, they need to be registered with the EC. As per the EC roadmap, the registration of political parties would be completd in March 2018.