UZ polls time not finalised in absence of related law
Election Commissioner Brig Gen (Retd) Sakhawat Hussain yesterday said the time for upazila election cannot be finalised in the absence of related law.
He informed that the Local Government (Upazila) Ordinance 2008 had been approved by the Council of Advisers. But the LGRD Ministry has recently decided to bring about further amendments in the ordinance.
“I've heard about some major changes in the ordinance, including the provision of two vice-chairmen. The LGRD ministry will send us the related draft. We'll give our opinion on that and then the draft will again go to the ministry,” he told reporters after a meeting with
the leaders of Union Parishad Oikya Jote (UPO).
From the LGRD ministry, the draft law would be sent to the law ministry and finally placed before the Council of Advisers for approval, Sakhawat said, adding that it would take some more time to finalise the ordinance.
“We've plan to hold the upazila polls as per the election roadmap. We are to go with it on receiving the amended law. But UPO demanded of us to hold the upazila election under the existing law, which is not possible,” he said.
Sakhawat said EC could hold the upazila election long ago if it were to be held under the existing law.
Meanwhile, a five-member delegation led by the UPO convenor Golam Sarwar Milon submitted a letter demanding upazila polls prior to national elections to the Election Commissioner at his office.
The delegation also demanded zila parishad election prior to the national election. “We'll take legal action if the commission doesn't hold upazila election by October,” Milon told reporters after the meeting.
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