EC asks CA to relax or lift emergency

The Election Commission (EC) yesterday at a meeting with Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed asked his government to create an environment conducive to holding elections to city corporations and some municipalities in April, either by relaxing or by lifting the state of emergency in respective areas.
The EC also suggested the emergency regime to gradually allow 'indoor politics' all across the country to facilitate electoral reforms including registration of political parties with the commission, which is supposed to be completed in June according to the announced electoral roadmap, sources said.
Being informed about the EC's plan for holding the due polls to the city corporations in April, the chief adviser assured the commission of all out government cooperation. He told the EC that his government is also considering countrywide withdrawal of 'restrictions on indoor politics', the sources added.
The long meeting also discussed a draft ordinance, which had recently been approved by the cabinet, for freeing the EC Secretariat from the control of Prime Minister's Office.
Contacted by The Daily Star last night, Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain said the EC asked the government to create an environment conducive to holding the city corporation polls according to the plans.
"Now it depends on the government whether it will lift or relax the state of emergency to create the environment required for holding the polls," Sakhawat said referring to their discussion with the chief adviser.
Before meeting the chief adviser, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday afternoon expressed his doubts about the fates of the polls to city corporations amid the state of emergency, which strictly bans all sorts of political activity across the country, other than 'indoor politics' only in the capital.
"How can the elections take place if the state of emergency is not lifted? Contestants will have to be allowed to carry out their election campaigns," Huda told reporters replying to a query on whether the state of emergency will be lifted in respective areas before the city corporation polls.
The CEC made the comment as he was leaving the EC Secretariat premises to meet the chief adviser in the latter's office.
At the meeting the EC also apprised the caretaker government chief of the progress in its work of preparing the voter list and of other preparatory works for holding the stalled ninth parliamentary election before the year end, the sources said.
During the discussion on the draft ordinance for freeing the EC Secretariat, the chief adviser, who was accompanied by the law adviser, explained the government's position for empowering the CEC to control the EC Secretariat. The EC however will discuss further with the chief adviser the issue of separating the EC Secretariat from the Prime Minister's Office, the sources added.
The CEC arrived at the Office of the Chief Adviser an hour before the schedule while the other two election commissioners -- Muhammed Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain, were on schedule.
Talking to reporters in the afternoon CEC Huda said all preparations for the parliamentary election will be completed according to the electoral roadmap which stipulated that the polls to local government bodies would start being held in January of this year to continue till December.
EC MEET ON CITY CORP POLLS
The EC yesterday decided to complete all preparations by March 20 for holding the long over due polls to four city corporations and nine municipalities, so that elections to those local government bodies can take place in April.
But the caretaker government has yet to decide whether the state of emergency will be lifted or relaxed in those areas, which is now the main obstacle to creating an environment conducive to holding the polls in April to those municipalities and the city corporations of Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet, while the election to Dhaka City Corporation is scheduled for May.
According to its decision to begin holding polls to local government bodies, the EC will soon begin publishing draft voter lists with photographs for the city corporations and the municipalities, for scrutiny.
From the dates of publication of the draft lists, it will take at least a month to complete the entire process of finalising the lists in line with electoral rolls rules which is schedule to be formulated in a couple of days, the EC sources said.
Besides, setting up polling stations in the four city corporations and the nine municipalities, printing of materials to be used for conducting the polls, and reforming the election laws relating to local government bodies are scheduled to be completed by March 20, the sources added.
Registration of eligible voters with their photographs attached to the voter lists for the four city corporations and the nine municipalities has already been completed. The army, which has been active at the field level in voter listing, is likely to handover draft voter lists to the EC today for the four city corporations and for seven of the nine municipalities.
The EC Secretariat is currently preparing to publish drafts of those, the sources said.
According to the EC's electoral roadmap announced on July 15, publication of draft electoral rolls was supposed to begin in October of last year, two months after the beginning of the field level work of preparing the voter list with photographs.
If the preparations are completed by March 20, then the EC will go for announcing the schedules for polls to the city corporations and the municipalities. It will take more than a month to really hold the polls from the date of schedule announcement. So, the polls are likely to take place either at the end of April or in early May.
The EC however has yet to decide whether the polls to the city corporations and the municipalities will take place simultaneously or on different dates. Senior officials in the EC Secretariat however hinted that the due polls to the Dhaka City Corporation will be held in May, if everything goes according to plans.
The voter list for Dhaka City Corporation area is yet to be completed, the EC sources said.
Tenure of the city corporations of Dhaka, Rajshahi and Khulna expired in May last year while tenure of the city corporations of Barisal and Sylhet expired in last November and December respectively. According to election laws, polls to the five city corporations are supposed to be held within 180 days prior to the expiration of their tenure.
But elections could not be held to the city corporations on time due to the state of emergency and for a lack of fair voter lists.
Other than the mayor of Dhaka City Corporation, all other mayors of city corporations have been in detentions for quite a long time now on charges of corruption, while many ward commissioners of the corporations are on the lam as they were also indicted for corruption.
Sources in the EC Secretariat said on the current voter lists Rajshahi City Corporation has a total of 2.60 lakh voters compared to 2.74 lakh on the previous list prepared in 2006, Khulna City Corporation has 3.98 lakh compared to 4.81 lakh on the previous one, Barisal has 1.77 lakh compared to 2.04 lakh on the previous list, Sylhet has 2.54 lakh compared to its 2.55 lakh voters on the previous list, and Chittagong City Corporation has 15.52 lakh compared to 14.44 lakh on the last one. A total of 14.45 lakh voters have already been registered in Dhaka City Corporation area so far, and the number is likely to increase as registrations go on.