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Download PDF The Election Commission (EC) will soon announce a specific timeframe for holding the much debated upazila elections.
Currently controversies over holding the upazila elections are raging, as the caretaker government wants the upazila polls prior to holding of the stalled ninth parliamentary election while most of the political parties want the general election first.
In its electoral roadmap announced on July 15 last year, the EC tentatively scheduled November and December of this year as the timeframe for holding the long over due upazila elections while parliamentary poll is scheduled to be held by the year end.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday however clearly stated that the EC’s main task is to hold the parliamentary election, while it also took up the responsibility of holding local government elections as an additional task.
In the wake of the on going controversies over upazila elections, a very important tier of the local government system, the EC decided in principle to come up with a specific timeframe for holding the polls upon being authorised by the government to do so, sources in the commission said.
“After the upazila parishad act is amended, we will decide when the upazila elections will be held, considering the overall situation,” Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain told The Daily Star yesterday.
LGRD ministry sources said President Iajuddin Ahmed is expected to promulgate an ordinance amending the Upazila Parishad Act 1998 within the next couple of days, through which the EC will be re-empowered to decide the timeframe for upazila elections.
CEC Huda meanwhile said they did not mention any specific date or month on the electoral roadmap for holding the local government elections.
“Our main task is to hold the parliamentary election. We’ve taken up the responsibility of holding the local government elections as an additional task,” CEC Huda told reporters.
“So, it doesn’t matter if the elections to those institutions are delayed by a month or two,” CEC Huda told the reporters, replying to a query on whether the EC will be able to hold polls to four city corporations and seven municipalities in April, according to its earlier announcement.
On announcing the tentative schedule for polls to city corporations and municipalities, the CEC reiterated that the commission will not announce any specific date for the elections to those two types of local governments until the laws regarding those government institutions are promulgated.
“As far as I know, the ministry concerned wants to have the local government elections under the new law, which will bring many changes. So, I can’t tell anything until the
ordinance is promulgated.”
The CEC earlier announced that specific election schedules for the city corporations and municipalities will be declared by the end of March.
Asked if the delay in announcing the schedule for the two types of local government elections will end up hampering the EC’s ability to comply with its own electoral roadmap, the CEC replied in the negative.
“The electoral roadmap won’t be disturbed even if the local government elections are delayed by a month or two.”
UPAZILA ELECITONS
The EC is currently deliberating whether to hold the upazila elections before the parliamentary poll or simultaneously with it, or to hold them after the general election.
If the EC decides to start holding upazila elections before the parliamentary poll, then it is unlikely that the commission will be able to finish holding the polls to all 482 upazila parishads before the parliamentary poll, since area wise voter lists for all upazilas will not be ready before October, and because holding of those polls involves a lot of other preparations too, officials in the EC Secretariat said.
On the other hand, holding the upazila elections simultaneously with the parliamentary poll will be too difficult for the EC, since holding the general election itself is a mammoth task, said the officials.
Under the circumstances, the EC might begin holding the upazila elections on a limited scale in only those upazilas where area wise voter lists will be ready by July at the latest.
The caretaker government also wants holding of polls to upazila parishads much before the parliamentary election, wherever possible. LGRD Adviser Anwarul Iqbal at a meeting with the EC in early March, informed the commission about the government’s desire.
According to the ongoing voter registration plans, voter lists for 100 upazilas will be ready by the end of May.
If the EC wants, it might start holding elections to those 100 upazila parishads in the next two to three months after completing other preparations.
Elections to upazila parishads have not been held in more than 17 years.
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