EC plans DCC polls in March-April

The Election Commission (EC) plans to hold the long overdue poll to Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) between March and April next year, after having the voter list for the area ready in January.
It is also pondering about holding the elections to Sylhet and Barisal city corporations in early May, the latest month in which the polls to those city corporations may be held staying within the timeframe permitted by the law. The commission is going to start the field level work of voter listing in Sylhet and Barisal city corporations next month with a view to completing the job in a month, sources said.
The EC already announced earlier that the polls to Rajshahi and Khulna city corporations will be held sometime between the end of January and February as the voter lists for the areas are almost ready.
The tenure of Dhaka, Rajshahi and Khulna city corporations expired on May 14, June 16, and June 26 of this year respectively. Elections to those city corporations were not held on time due to the state of emergency and for the absence of credible voter lists. According to the pertinent law, election to any city corporation is due within the last six months of its tenure.
The EC also moved to bring reforms to the electoral law for local governments including city corporations, municipalities, and union parishads, before starting holding of elections to those in January, the sources said.
"We have just started examining the electoral law for local governments to find out what changes are necessary for making the law conducive enough for holding free and fair elections to those," a senior EC official said adding, "The changes are likely to comply with the amendment to be brought to the parliamentary electoral law."
The official said the changes to the electoral law for the city corporations will be brought in January as the due polls to Rajshahi and Khulna city corporations are likely to be held first.
In its electoral roadmap announced in July, the EC said as soon as a voter list will be ready in an area the due poll to the local government will be held there starting from January next year.
The local government and rural development ministry in a letter last month asked the EC to hold the due polls to local governments as soon as the voter lists for the areas are ready.
Meanwhile, the five-year tenure of over 4,000 union parishads will expire between January and March next year. According to the law, elections to union parishads are to be held within the last six months of their tenure. The EC will have to start holding polls to the union parishads early next year to stay within the timeframe permissible by law.
Elections to 90 municipalities will be due by the end of this year with the tenure of around 50 others already expired, while elections to the remaining 115 municipalities were held on May 5--10, 2004 with their tenure scheduled to expire in 2009.
VOTER LIST FOR DCC
The EC plans to have the voter list with photographs for DCC area ready in January by beginning the work on December 1. Before beginning the field level work, the commission will take massive preparations to ensure that the job will be completed on schedule.
The commission called for a high-level meeting in its secretariat tomorrow to review the logistics of preparing the voter list with photographs and the national identity cards for DCC area. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda will preside over the meeting.
The EC Secretariat sent invitations to the secretaries to the ministries of LGRD and cooperative, home affairs, and education, and to the military secretary to the army headquarters, director general of Bangladesh Rifles, directors general of Ansar and VDP, commissioner of the Dhaka Division, chief executive of DCC, directors general to the directorates of secondary and higher education, and mass education, chairman of the secondary and higher education board, commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, and to the deputy commissioner of Dhaka asking them to attend the meeting or to send competent representatives.
The meeting will discuss the issues of coordinating the activities of DCC, the district administration, police, and the army, selection of voter registration centres, awareness raising campaign among prospective voters, prospective homeless voters, and training of manpower among others.
The number of voters in DCC area was 39.78 lakh during the last poll held on April 25, 2002.