The EC also has not taken any action against these parties for violating the electoral law introduced in 2001 fixing limit to the election expenditure although it is legally empowered to take punitive action for any contravention of the law. It has remained silent about the matter since the 2001 general elections.

Officials at the EC Secretariat said they had issued a number of circulars after the October 1, 2001 election, asking the contesting political parties to submit the returns of their election expenditure, but none of them responded to the EC's directive within the 60-day period.

"The secretariat has not informed the Election Commission whether or not any political party has submitted the return of its election expenditure. The then chief election commissioner also did not convene any meeting to discuss the issue," Election Commissioner AK Mohammad Ali told The Daily Star.

By showing such indifference to the electoral laws, major political parties, including the BNP, Awami League (AL), Jamaat-e-Islami and Jatiya Party (Ershad), have virtually proved their unwillingness to be transparent regarding their election expenditures.

According to the law, each political party shall furnish to the EC a separate statement certified as correct and complete by the party secretary, showing the expenditure balance of its funds on the date of declaring the election schedule, the closing balance of the funds on the date of completion of election in all constituencies, and the total amount received by the party, as donation or otherwise, during the period.

Violation of these laws will be punishable with fines up to Tk 10 lakh.

According to the electoral laws, no political party is allowed to spend more than a fixed amount of money during the election period for election purposes, including the expenses for its candidates.

If any political party nominates more than 200 candidates, it can spend up to Tk 1.5 crore. If the number of candidates is between 100 and 200, the expenditure limit is up to Tk 1 crore, and if the number is not more than 100, the limit is Tk 75 lakh.

Former adviser to the caretaker government M Hafizuddin Khan said there is no shortage of electoral laws, but lack of enforcement of these laws has made them ineffective.

"The Election Commission should enforce the laws strictly. Otherwise, no electoral reform will bring good result," he told The Daily Star.

Experts observed that in absence of strict enforcement of the electoral laws, political parties enjoy a kind of liberty regarding their expenditure during election. Use of black money will dominate the next polls, they anticipated.

The EC's bid to ensure transparency in the political parties by introducing a registration system for them in 2001 has also proved futile as the major political parties, including BNP and AL, have been ignoring the system since its inception. A few small political parties, however, have shown interest in getting registered.

It is interesting that the main opposition AL, which in 2001 had opposed the registration system that aimed at ensuring financial transparency and democracy in the parties, has proposed in its reform proposals to ensure practice of democracy in the political parties.

"The parties that contest in the polls will have to be run based on democratic norms and regulations and regular election of party officials and submit the financial statements to the [Election] Commission," the AL said in its proposal.

The ruling BNP also opposed the registration system in 2001 and now remains silent over the issue.

Experts said that the political parties are preparing for the next parliamentary election and collecting funds to use in the polls amid this situation. The major political parties will again spend crores of taka for their win but will not submit any report regarding their income and expenditure, they fear.

"The major political parties take donations from businessmen and nomination-seekers. But there is no transparency in the process as nobody except the party high commands and donors knows about the amount of the money. This black money is used in the election and encourages corruption in the government," a former adviser to the caretaker government said.

"The businessmen believe in the give-and-take policy. When they donate money to the election fund they expect return and take benefits in illegal ways," he observed.