Bangladesh News

Political parties will be able to contest in the upcoming upazila elections after all, as the Election Commission (EC) finally decided in principle to scrap its earlier plan of rendering the long over due polls non-partisan, sources in the commission said.

The EC’s new strategy for holding the upazila polls without rubbing political parties the wrong way, came after consulting legal experts, the sources added.

If the EC’s changed position remains unchanged, it will not file any appeal against the July 31 High Court (HC) ruling that scrapped the commission imposed restrictions on political parties barring them from contesting in the city corporation and municipality polls held on August 4.

The commission will also refrain from asking the government to amend the Upazila Parishad Ordinance 2008, which it earlier intended to do for making the upazila polls non-partisan.

And it will not keep in the final draft of the electoral code of conduct for upazila polls, the bar on political parties it had in the earlier draft, the sources said.

The EC’s earlier bid to keep political parties at bay during the August 4 polls to four city corporations and nine municipalities failed after the July 31 HC ruling.

The EC yesterday at a meeting that finalised the draft election rules for the upazila polls, also discussed the much debated issue of holding the polls in October, ahead of the parliamentary poll tentatively scheduled for the year end.

Referring to legal experts’ opinions Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda at the meeting said if the commission sends proposals to the government for amending the Upazila Parishad Ordinance for making the polls non-partisan, the move might go against the HC verdict, and incur the wrath of political parties as well, according to the sources.

The legal experts told the EC that it will be difficult to defend the amendment since the move will contradict provisions in the constitution.

“So, the election commission is in favour of not sending the proposal for amending Upazila Parishad Ordinance to the caretaker government,” an EC official attending the meeting said.

Asked about the EC’s stance, Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain yesterday told reporters if the government wants, it may file an appeal against the HC ruling which allowed political parties to contest in the August 4 local government polls.

“We however don’t want to be blamed for any such step,” he said.

Sources in the LGRD ministry, the custodian of local governments, however said the ministry has no plan to amend the Upazila Parishad Ordinance.

At yesterday’s meeting the EC also discussed the political parties’ opposition to the commission’s as well as the government’s plan for holding the polls to over 300 out of a total of 482 upazilas in October.

Major political parties including Awami League and BNP have been vehemently opposing the plan for holding the upazila polls before the stalled ninth parliamentary election which is supposed to be held in the third week of December.

Senior leaders of the parties already declared that they will resist the upazila elections if held before the parliamentary poll, as they fear holding of the upazila polls before the parliamentary one might jeopardise the latter.

The EC however believes that a congenial atmosphere for the upazila polls will prevail once the election schedules are announced, as grassroots level leaders of political parties want to contest in those polls.

Asked whether the army will be deployed for the upazila polls, Election Commissioner Sakhawat said if necessary, the commission will ask the government to deploy the army and Bangladesh Rifles for ensuring security.

Officials in the EC Secretariat said the government ‘must deploy the army to maintain law and order as the police alone will not be able to do the job successfully’ if 300 or more upazilas go to polls together.

If the army is engaged in election duties, they will be authorised to arrest anybody without a warrant for violation of electoral rules, and for other unlawful activities or for any such attempt, according to the draft upazila election rules.

The EC will send the draft electoral rules to the law ministry in a couple of days for vetting and then the commission will promulgate the rules exercising its power to do so, vested in it by the Upazila Parishad Ordinance.