Govt yet to respond to EC request
The government has yet to respond to the Election Commission's (EC) call for it to decide by early March whether the state of emergency would be lifted or relaxed for city corporation polls in April.
Lifting of the restrictions on indoor politics across the country has not been spelled out either.
The commission wanted the government to lift the countrywide curbs on indoor politics by the end of March to let the political parties resume their activities and register with the commission.
Meeting the chief adviser on February 4, it asked the military-backed caretaker administration to decide by early March if the state of emergency would be lifted or relaxed to facilitate polls to four city corporations and eight municipalities.
In response, Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed assured the commission of meeting whatever it requires for the elections to be held. Since then, the council of advisers met on several occasions, but nothing came out.
Contacted by The Daily Star recently, a number of advisers said they had no discussion on the EC's demands.
Highly placed sources in the administration said possibility of decisions coming on the issues before the chief adviser's return from Senegal is slim. Fakhruddin Ahmed is scheduled to return on March 22.
“We have not received any directives from the government to relax or lift the restrictions on indoor politics countrywide. We also don't know if the state of emergency would go or be relaxed for the city corporation polls,” a senior official of the home ministry told The Daily Star.
“There might be some developments after the chief adviser's return,” he added.
On lifting of checks on indoor politics throughout the country, an election commissioner said he thinks the government might decide on it after dialogue with the political parties.
If it is so, the possibility of any immediate resolution of the issue is as far-off as the caretaker government's plan for talks with the parties.
The government wants the talks to begin after the EC's dialogue on electoral reforms that has long been stuck in the leadership dispute within BNP. The matter is still with the High Court and hearing on it will not resume before Monday.
Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed in his address to the nation in January said his government was considering lifting the restrictions on indoor politics.
This apart, the administration has yet to finalise the laws on formation and functions of the city corporations and municipalities as well as legislation to hold elections to those local government bodies.
The delay in this regard has already forced the commission to go slow with its plan for polls to four city corporations and seven municipalities.
The EC earlier announced that it would declare schedule for the polls at the end of March. But now it says it won't do so until the laws on local government bodies are finalised.
On April 4 last year, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda at a meeting with the then law adviser asked the government to lift the restrictions on indoor politics to allow a dialogue between EC and political parties on the proposed electoral reforms.
In reply, the government on September 10 last year partially lifted the curbs and that too in the capital only.
Comments