Bangladesh News

All signs now suggest that the much debated upazila elections will not be held before the parliamentary poll after all, as the government and the Election Commission (EC) seem to be finally moving towards conceding to political parties’ almost unanimous demand for the national ballot first.

With the latent new turn in the electoral course developing, the EC will announce on Monday specific dates for the parliamentary, upazila parishad, and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) polls.

Disclosing the EC’s plan for announcing the election dates on Monday, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday however categorically said, “Detailed schedules for the elections will not be announced right now.”

Reliable sources in the government administration and the EC said considering the political situation and the time constraint, upazila polls will be held after the parliamentary election, which is tentatively planned for the third week of December.

CEC Huda, who just a few days ago was the champion of ‘upazila polls first’, said yesterday that the EC will have to draw a new plan, as the earlier plan for holding polls to upazilas and DCC first, had not got enough wind in its sail.

“We will keep gaps between the dates of the two elections,” CEC Huda said.

Keeping a request of the military backed caretaker government, the EC on August 25 had decided that polls to 125 upazilas out of a total of 482 would be held on October 23, and to another 125 upazilas on October 27, while the DCC poll would be held on October 30.

The commission had also planned to announce the detailed schedules for the local government polls by September 10.

But in the face of vehement opposition to holding the upazila elections before the parliamentary poll, from almost all political parties including Awami League and BNP, the EC refrained from announcing the schedules.

Caught in the uncertainty about the success of its plan to hold the upazila polls in October, the EC did not even finalise the list of upazilas where the polls would be held in October, and the rules for the polls are also not promulgated yet by it.

Asked if the upazila polls will be held before the parliamentary election despite the opposition from major political parties, LGRD Adviser Anwarul Iqbal yesterday said, “The Election Commission is supposed to hold elections. It will decide in consultation with all parties.”

“The government has nothing to do with it,” he added.

The LGRD adviser also said the chief adviser is likely to address the nation on various issues soon and will announce the dates for the elections during the address.

When the CEC’s attention was drawn to the adviser’s remark, Huda said, “The chief adviser will not announce the election dates. The chief election commissioner will announce them.”

After the chief adviser had announced that the parliamentary poll will be held in the third week of December this year during his last address to the nation on May 12, the High Court criticised the move rather harshly saying it had been inappropriate of the chief adviser to make the announcement.

The court at that time also questioned the extent of the EC’s independence from the Chief Adviser’s Office.

CEC Huda yesterday however said the EC will meet Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed again on his return from China to consult the commission’s plan regarding the election dates.

The chief adviser is scheduled to return on Thursday, to leave the country again for the US on Saturday.

In back-to-back meetings between government advisers and the EC on Saturday and Sunday, the caretaker administration however reiterated its backing for holding upazila polls before the national election, meeting sources said.

The EC told the government during the meeting that it will not make the final decision before its anticipated talk with BNP.

The CEC earlier cancelled his plan for disclosing on Sunday the election dates, as the EC had decided to talk to BNP first.

CEC Huda yesterday said the commission will sit with BNP for the talk on Saturday, wrapping up its series of dialogues with political parties.

“After having the talk with BNP, the commission will meet to fix the election dates,” Huda said.

BNP and its alliance partners already demanded that the parliamentary poll must be held before the upazila polls.