Md Abdul Alim, principal director of Democracy International, presented the draft ordinance on forming a public fund for female candidates at the dialogue.

The draft proposal stated that a public fund would be created for female candidates, both party-affiliated and independent. To form this fund, the government would allocate the required amount each year as per the Election Commission’s demand, and it would be considered part of the national budget. The commission would have the authority to cancel the allocated fund, in full or in part, if a candidate violated its conditions, refrained from contesting, or boycotted the election.

Speaking regarding this, the adviser said, “Elections in this country are never completely free of corruption. The ceiling for electoral expenditure has never been complied. The initiative to form a public fund might curb the corruption rate. Many eligible candidates cannot come to the fore due to financial constraints. The public fund may play a significant role in bringing forward women in this regard.”

Election Commissioner Brigadier General (retd) Abul Fazl Md Sanaullah said that according to the Representation of the People Order (RPO), political parties registered with the Election Commission were supposed to ensure 33 per cent female representation at all levels of their committees by 2020. As the parties failed to meet the target, the deadline was extended to 2030. It seems that even by 2030, the target will not be met.

He said that although the female population in the country is higher, the number of female voters is lower. The commission has taken steps to reduce this gap. As of the draft voter list on 2 January this year, there were three million fewer female voters than male voters. A total of 4.4 million voters were found to be missing, many of whom had lost faith in voting. In the past few months, the gap in the number of female voters has been reduced to 1.8 million.