Govt wants EC to hold upazila polls first

The caretaker government yesterday proposed that the Election Commission (EC) hold the long-over-due polls of upazila parishads before the stalled ninth parliamentary elections scheduled to be held this year.
Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) Adviser Anwarul Iqbal during a meeting with election commissioners at the EC Secretariat informed the commission about the government's desire to give the authority of holding local government polls back to the EC soon so that it can announce the poll schedules, meeting sources said.
Iqbal's yesterday's visit to the EC Secretariat is the first ever visit of an adviser of this caretaker government. He discussed holding of polls of various local government bodies.
The LGRD adviser met the election commissioners apparently to expedite making fresh laws on city corporations and municipalities in order to hold polls to some of those bodies in April.
Iqbal also told the EC that the caretaker government is considering an EC proposal to prevent political leaders holding party posts from contesting polls in city corporations and municipalities.
According to the EC's proposal, a political leader holding a party post will have to resign from the post to contest local government elections.
The LGRD adviser also assured the EC of providing the commission with the authority to formulate rules for holding polls to local government bodies.
The EC also placed a proposal before the LGRD ministry to bar convicted war criminals from local government polls.
"The upazila parishad polls can be held staggered since the voter list is not ready enough to hold the elections to all upazila parishads simultaneously. So, the elections can be held in areas where the voter list will be ready," the LGRD adviser said, adding, "The commission will decide how it will conduct the polls."
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda told reporters that the EC has decided in principle to hold the long overdue upazila parishad polls and the government wants it before the parliamentary elections.
"The upazila elections can be held before the parliamentary elections. However, we have yet to decide when the polls will take place," CEC Huda said.
Asked about the objections raised by major political parties about holding polls to local government bodies before parliamentary elections, the LGRD adviser said the EC would decide in this regard.
In response to a similar query, the CEC said the EC in its electoral roadmap announced on July 15 declared that it would hold polls to local government bodies.
"And we have been repeatedly saying that we will follow the electoral roadmap. We have decided not to hold polls to union parishads since holding polls to around 5,000 union parishads is a mammoth task," the CEC said.
In the electoral roadmap, the EC announced that upazila parishad elections, which have not been held in 17 years, would be held at any time between November and December this year.
During the second round of electoral reform talks with the EC, between February 24 and 28, most political parties opposed the EC's plan to hold polls to local government bodies before parliamentary elections.
POLLS TO CITY CORPORATIONS AND MUNICIPALITIES
CEC Huda yesterday said the EC would announce the election schedule for city corporations of Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Barisal, and seven municipalities at the end of March.
"The two draft ordinances to make laws on city corporations and municipalities are at an advanced stage. The task of preparing another fresh law for districts, upazilas and union parishads is yet to be completed," the CEC said.
About the EC's plan of announcing election schedules for city corporations and municipalities, the LGRD adviser said the laws on the two local government bodies will be ready by that time.
The caretaker government has agreed to a recommendation, submitted by the committee on restructuring the local government bodies, to reserve 40 percent wards of the local government bodies for women.
The committee on strengthening the local government bodies recommended reserving 40 percent of all seats at all tiers of local government exclusively for women for the next 15 years.
Asked about demarcating the reserved seats, the CEC said the LGRD ministry will specify the wards for the women in city corporations and municipalities.
The CEC said the EC declined to a LGRD-ministry proposal to take the responsibilities for demarcating the areas of wards of city corporations and municipalities since the tasks will create difficulties for the commission.
"Nobody can file a case against the commission regarding the demarcation of parliamentary constituencies, but there is no such immunity for demarcating the areas of wards in city corporations and municipalities," CEC Huda said.