Bangladesh News

The long overdue election to upazila parishads is set to be held under the next political government as the Election Commission (EC) yesterday deferred the polls by over three weeks.

The next elected government to be formed through the December 29 parliamentary polls is supposed to run the country on the day of UP elections.

The caretaker government earlier had committed to hold upazila elections before handing over power to the elected government as the previous AL and BNP governments did not hold the upazila elections during their rules.

As per commitment, the present government planned to hold upazila polls in last October but the EC did not agree to it in the face of growing opposition from the major political parties.

The UP election was earlier scheduled for December 28 so that the polls are held under the caretaker government.

But the fresh dates for upazila elections show that the caretaker government will not be able to fulfil its commitment regarding upazila polls.

EC sources said the policymakers of the caretaker government initially did not agree with the EC’s proposal to defer the upazila elections by over three weeks. But the EC convinced them of the timing of the elections, sources added.

Once the national election is held on December 29, the EC needs four to five days to publish official results of the polls in the gazette. Elected lawmakers will take oath within next couple of days following the election.

The party, which captures majority seats of MPs, will elect parliamentary party leader and propose his or her name to the president for appointing the leader as the prime minister. With the taking oath of the newly appointed prime minister, the tenure of the current caretaker government will be ended.

It might require 10 to 12 days to complete the total process according to the past election experience.

In 2001, the parliamentary election was held on October 1 and Khaleda Zia took oath as the prime minister on October 10. In 1996, the general election was held on June 12 while AL chief Sheikh Hasina was sworn in as prime minister on June 23.

However, the upazila election procedures like filing applications and its scrutiny and withdrawal of candidacy will be completed by December 31 during the tenure of the caretaker government.