Parliament passes bills to hold Union Parishad, Upazila, city corporation polls on party lines

Parliament has passed three bills to amend laws in order to hold polls to Union Parishads, Upazilas and city corporations on party lines.

From now on, the candidates of these local government bodies will be able to fight using their party symbols after getting nomination. 

The legislators passed the bills through a voice vote when LGRD Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain placed them separately on Sunday.

He brought the bills to Parliament on Nov 11. They were sent to the parliamentary panel on LGRD ministry for vetting.

The bills are Local Government (Union Parishad) (Amendment) Bill 2015, Local Government (Upazila) (Amendment) Bill 2015, and Local Government (City Corporation) (Amendment) Bill 2015.

In the bills, “political parties” means “registered political parties” as defined by the Representation of the People Order.
 
An “independent candidate” means one who is not a political party nominee.  

In line with the bills, Union Parishad chairman and member, Upazila Parishad chairman, vice-chairman and woman member, and city corporation mayor and councillor candidates will have to be either independent candidates or nominated by a political party.
 
The minister said the bills were placed on public demand and to give the representatives a chance to fulfil political pledges.

The bill to enable mayoral candidates to fight municipality polls using a party symbol was passed on Nov 19.