The Election Commission is preparing to start local government elections in October this year, but the exact date remains unconfirmed, EC high officials said, adding that the initial phase might begin with municipality or upazila parishad elections.
Meanwhile, political parties, including the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party, apprehended that the government might delay holding the elections as it had appointed administrators to almost all the city corporations across the country.
The parties demanded that the local government elections should be started as early as possible though they, too, did not provide any specific time frame.
‘The local government elections might commence in October but the commission is yet to receive any formal notification from the ministry concerned of the government,’ election commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud told New Age on Thursday.
He said that city corporations might not be the priority, the process could start with upazilas or municipalities.
Masud said that determining which elections would be held first depended on several factors as the EC maintained formal and informal coordination with the government, various stakeholders, and political parties.
The decision would be made taking into account weather, examinations, and other factors to ensure high voter turnout, he said.
Leaders of the Jammat and the NCP, however, said that they had almost finalised their party candidates for city corporations, upazilas, municipalities, and union parishads but the government had already appointed administrators to city corporations and district councils and were trying to delay holding the elections in the name of some legal reforms.
On the other hand, local government minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on May 5 said that the local government elections at all tiers would be completed within next one year.
He made the announcement while addressing the deputy commissioner’s conference recently in the capital.
Prime minister Tarique Rahman, during a view-exchange meeting with grassroots leaders of the BNP and the party’s affiliated bodies on May 9, instructed party members to prepare for the local government polls.
He also said that the government would not intervene in ensuring party men’s victory in the elections, rather, victory must be based on merit and popularity.
Jamaat assistant secretary general Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair on Thursday told New Age that the party had finalised its candidates for majority of unions, upazilas, and municipalities and cities, and they had been instructed to prepare for the elections.
‘Candidate selection is largely complete in many areas, with local branches already announcing names. For major areas like Dhaka and big cities, the central office is waiting for final proposals to make formal announcements,’ he said.
Zubair demanded that elections should be announced immediately as there had been no local representatives in many areas for nearly two years, which had been depriving citizens of essential services.
The NCP has already announced mayoral candidates for five cities, including the two city corporations in Dhaka.
On May 10, the party also announced the names of potential candidates for 100 municipalities and upazila parishads across the country.
NCP joint convener and a potential mayoral candidate for the Dhaka South City Corporation Ariful Islam Adeeb alleged that the government was delaying local government elections in an attempt to bring the polls under the control of local MPs.
‘We want the government to take initiative to hold local government elections as early as possible,’ he demanded.
Election commissioner Rahmanel Masud said that the EC Law and Rule Reform Committee held a meeting on Wednesday and discussed specific areas within the election management rules and the code of conduct that require amendment.
According to the commissioner, the committee was particularly reviewed the security deposits for local government candidates.
There are significant inconsistencies in the deposit amounts across various tiers, he observed.
For example, the deposit for an upazila chairman candidate has already been set at Tk 1,00,000, which will be forfeited if the candidate fails to secure at least 15 per cent of the total votes cast.
But in many other elections the deposit amount is much lower, Masud observed.
There were also large disparities between the rules for city corporation and municipality elections, he further said.
‘We are working to eliminate these inconsistencies and create a consistent framework as far as possible. Since all the necessary data are not available, we will meet again once the information is at hand,’ the commissioner said.
He said that there were also certain amendments to be made to the rules as the local government elections would not be held under party symbols.
Masud said that the meeting had also discussed prohibiting posters and online campaigning for the elections.
The committee also reviewed what changes to the code of conduct would be necessary in light of current realities, including the requirement for independent candidates to submit a specific number of supporting signatures would be abolished.
Currently there are 13 city corporations, 500 upazila parishads, 61 zila parishads, and 4,580 union parishads in the country.
