"A cross-section of the people in the society now demands that candidates to be nominated by different political parties for the forthcoming election should be clean," Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, member secretary of the committee, said at a press briefing at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) office in Dhaka.

The Citizens' Committee members are not going to participate in politics but want to strengthen it as more acceptable and sound, he said, adding that the civil society wants to mount pressure from outside and ensure a transparent and fair political process free from corruption.

The committee was formed with Prof Rehman Sobhan as convener on March 20 following a dialogue organised by the CPD, The Daily Star and the Prothom Alo. It held its first meeting on Saturday to discuss activities and a realistic vision statement.

Debapriya said the High Court (HC) order given in May 2005 directing the Election Commission (EC) to collect information about nominated candidates in the form of affidavit and disseminate it to the people through mass media should be implemented.

According to the order, the candidates are supposed to provide information including their educational qualifications, criminal records, if any, profession, sources of income, assets and loans taken individually or in the name of the companies in which they are chairmen, executive directors or directors.

The civil society thinks it is necessary to incorporate information on the candidates' tax records and their previous political affiliations including changes of political parties.

"We would like to see whether political parties are nominating their candidates who have huge black money or are backed by musclemen," Debapriya said while explaining why this body has come up with the clean candidate concept.

"We don't think that there is any alternative to political rule but want to ensure that the present political process is more transparent, fair and free from corruption," he said.

The citizens' body does not think that a fair general election is possible without reforms in the EC and the electoral laws, Dr Debapriya, also CPD executive director, said explaining the committee's background, aims, objectives and plans for the next course of action.

He made it clear that the committee will work independently and finalise its modus operandi while the CPD will provide secretariat support only.

Categorically mentioning that the body will not accept any foreign donation, Debapriya said, "We are spending the money of the CPD and other associates. However, we will mobilise funds from local individuals and institutions."

As part of a pre-election programme for 2006-07 that will continue until October, the committee has taken up a two-pronged strategy--framing a vision statement and evaluating policy, and engaging in a dialogue to create awareness among people.

For the vision statement and evaluating policy, the committee will form a taskforce, review overall policy, analyse the election manifestos of the political parties and conduct survey on the outlook of the possible lawmakers about development policy.

As part of the effort to start a dialogue and create awareness, it will hold discussions with political parties, the EC, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the National Board of Revenue. It will also arrange special dialogues with the participation of expatriate Bangladeshis.

The committee will sit again on April 24 to discuss its next course of action about the clean candidate campaign and give a shape to the vision statement.

CPD officials Dr Fahmida Khatun, Fatema Yusuf, Dr Uttam Dev and Nayeem Hasan were present at the briefing, among others.