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Download PDF The Election Commission (EC) plans to meet the chief adviser in a couple of days to ask again to create an environment conducive to beginning local government elections from July, either by lifting or relaxing the state of emergency in the areas concerned.
The EC is preparing to hold polls to four city corporations and nine municipalities by announcing schedules next week and wants the government decision before the announcement of the schedule, whether the state of emergency would be lifted or relaxed for the polls, sources in the EC said.
According to the EC’s plans, polls to some other municipalities will be held between August and September and then it will begin holding the long overdue elections to upazila parishads.
Sources in the EC said, all the planned local government elections are likely to be held amid the state of emergency since the caretaker government has no plan to lift the emergency even before the parliamentary polls, scheduled for the third week of December. However, the EC would ask the caretaker government chief to create a congenial atmosphere either by relaxing or lifting the state of emergency, they added.
“Wait a day or two,” Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hossain told journalists yesterday, replying to a query about the date for meeting the chief adviser. He, however, said they will have to meet the chief adviser soon.
The EC, led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda, will also hand over to the chief adviser a copy of the report on dialogue between the EC and political parities.
In the report, the EC will seek government’s initiatives in respect of some crucial issues including trial of war criminals, formation of a constitution review commission, increasing the number of parliamentary seats, sources in the EC said.
On February 4, the EC met chief adviser and suggested the end of March as deadline for the government to lift restrictions on indoor politics countrywide so that political parties can resume their activities and get registered with the EC.
The caretaker government finally allowed indoor politics countrywide on May 13, over one and a half months later.
The EC also asked the government to decide early March whether the state of emergency would be lifted or relaxed to create the environment conducive to holding the long overdue polls to four city corporations and eight municipalities in April.
Since the EC could not move to hold the local government polls as per its plans, due to lack of fresh laws on the local government bodies, the government did not announce its decision on the state of emergency issue.
But, this time, the EC is determined to begin the local government elections from July and preparations for it have almost been completed, except formulation of the election rules and code of conduct.
The EC in the last week of May sent the draft election rules and code of conduct for the candidates in the city and municipalities polls to the law ministry for vetting.
The EC is now repeatedly asking the law ministry to clear the drafts as soon as possible. Officials in the EC said they hoped the law ministry would complete the task of vetting in a day or two and send the draft back to the EC.
On receiving the drafts from the law ministry, the EC will formulate the election rules and code of conduct in exercise of the authority given by the city corporations and municipalities ordinances.
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