The Election Commission plans to begin local government elections in the first week of October, starting with the haor and northeastern districts -- Sunamganj, Netrokona, Kishoreganj and parts of Habiganj.
The schedule is expected to be announced at the end of August.
According to the EC’s draft roadmap for union parishads, municipalities, upazilas and city corporations, the polls will be held in phases. Letters were sent to field-level offices to finalise polling centres by July 31.
The commission has divided the country into four clusters to determine the timing of local polls -- haor and northeastern areas, hill and coastal regions, riverine and char areas, and plains and urban centres -- considering geography, weather, public examinations and religious festivals.
The EC will publish the draft voter list today and the final list on August 31. The draft polling centre list will be published tomorrow, with the final list on August 27.
Those who turned 18 by July 31 and have applied for voter registration will be eligible to vote.
The roadmap sets August 15 as the deadline for amending laws and rules, with tasks outlined before and after the schedule announcement.
Two law-and-order meetings will be held with the armed forces and law enforcement agencies -- one 15 days before the schedule and another after the withdrawal of candidatures.
Results will be collected and distributed by post, with gazettes published within three to four days of voting and final gazettes naming elected candidates within six to seven days.
The EC is now eyeing October 1 as a tentative starting date.
EC member Abdur Rahmanel Masud told The Daily Star, “When I say October, assume the elections will start in the first week.”
Meanwhile, LGRD Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on July 22 said local government elections were likely to be held by the end of this year or early 2027.
According to the roadmap, polls in the haor and northeastern areas -- Sunamganj, Netrokona, Kishoreganj and parts of Habiganj -- will be held between September and November, when water transport is easier.
Masud said the roadmap also covers training for EC officials, voter list preparation, ink stocks, appointment of presiding officers and voter awareness campaigns.
The roadmap states that November to February has been marked suitable for polls in the hill and coastal belt -- Rangamati, Bandarban, Khagrachhari, Cox’s Bazar and islands such as Hatiya and Sandwip, as well as parts of Barishal -- as the monsoon brings risks of landslides, heavy rain and tidal surges.
For riverine and char districts -- Kurigram, Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Sirajganj, Munshiganj, Shariatpur, Chandpur and Rajbari -- September to March has been set to avoid floods and erosion.
In the plains and urban centres -- all other divisions, districts, upazilas, municipalities and city corporations -- polls can be held any time outside the monsoon.
The workplan highlights challenges in phased polls, noting that short gaps in past elections led to clashes over nominations, scrutiny, appeals, symbol allocation, training of officials and ballot transport. Limited intervals also strained law enforcement as personnel had to move rapidly between areas.
As part of preparations, the EC has drafted codes of conduct for five tiers of local government and sought opinions from political parties.
On July 21, the commission finalised the rules with recommendations, such as including the armed forces in the definition of law enforcement agencies and disqualifying MPO-listed teachers, dual citizens, loan defaulters and guarantors from contesting local polls.
On July 7, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin directed the swift finalisation of the code of conduct and election management manuals. According to the roadmap, rule-making is to be completed by August 15.
Masud said, “We will send it to the law ministry very soon. Work is also underway on the election management rules.”
He also confirmed that local government polls would have domestic observers only, as foreign observers would be too costly.
He said BG Press had estimated Tk 41 crore for printing voter lists.
Bangladesh has 13 city corporations, 500 upazila parishads, 61 zila parishads and 4,580 union parishads, but no local government elections have been held in more than two years.
The Local Government Division removed 323 mayors and 323 councillors in August and September 2024, following the political changeover. It also removed 493 upazila chairmen and 494 vice chairmen, including female vice chairmen, in August 2024.
Among all these local bodies, 108 union parishads and 10 municipalities remain ineligible due to delimitation, voter list complications, and legal disputes. The rest are eligible for the elections, according to the workplan.
On July 9, the EC sought information from the LGD on the number of local government bodies eligible to go to polls.
It asked the LGD to respond by July 31, but EC officials said they had not received a reply.
Asked about the update, LGD Secretary Shahidul Hassan yesterday declined to provide specific details on the scheduling or formal communication for upcoming local government elections.
Asked whether the LGD would issue a letter to the EC for conducting local polls, he said, “Naturally, it should be given according to the rules.”
Asked when such a letter might be sent, he said, “I can’t say. It will be done when the government makes a decision.”
