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Download PDF The divisional commissioners yesterday opposed the Election Commission’s (EC) plans for holding upazila parishad polls together with the ninth parliamentary election.
They aired their views at a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda at the EC Secretariat.
Coming out of the meeting, attended also by divisional deputy election commissioners, Huda said if not held together upazila election would precede the parliamentary polls.
Heads of the divisional administration cited a number of difficulties in holding the national and local government elections simultaneously. They said it will require a huge number of polling officials, ballot boxes and other logistic supports.
Besides, they added, the voting process and counting will be slow and it all might lead to untoward situation.
The CEC said they would soon seek opinions of the deputy commissioners and superintendents of the police on the issue as they will be the ones playing a crucial role in conducting the elections.
“On the basis of their opinions, we will decide by early June whether to organise the elections together or separately,” the polls chief told reporters.
He was accompanied by the two other election commissioners—Muhammed Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain.
Meanwhile, a number of senior officials at the EC Secretariat said the deputy commissioners and superintendents of the police are likely to come up with opinions similar to those of the divisional commissioners.
If the EC takes into account the filed level administration’s opinion, upazila elections should not be held together with parliamentary polls, they said.
In that case, the EC officials said, the upazila polls might be held in November, as the voter list with photographs will be ready by the end of September or early October.
Though the EC has yet to announce a specific date, the long-stalled parliamentary polls are tentatively scheduled to be held on any day of the third week of December.
The commission in its electoral roadmap announced on July 15 last year said the polls to 482 upazila parishads would be held in between November and December.
In March, the caretaker government proposed that the EC should start holding upazila elections in the areas where the voter lists are ready.
But the EC did not yet give any hints at staggering the elections over a few days.
About the appeals filed against delimitation of 133 constituencies, the CEC said hearing on those would begin in the second week of June.
“We hope the proceedings will be completed in three to four workdays since the number of appeals are small,” he added.
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