Election Commission (EC) officials apprehend much confusion if political parties are to be allowed to contest polls to local bodies like municipality boards and city corporations.
Published : 12 Oct 2015, 11:04 AM
So far, candidates have contested these local bodies independently and not as candidates of political parties.
But the ruling Awami league wants local body polls on party lines .
EC officials are worried because very little time is left for them to work new procedures, as some of these polls are due in less than two months.
The Chandpur town municipality is an example, where polls are due in 45 days.
Besides the position of Mayor, polls have to be conducted to elect 5 reserved ward councillors and 15 general ward councillors.
Twelve election symbols are kept ready on ballot papers for these positions and more have to be printed, if the number of candidates goes up.
But with forty registered political parties around in the country and some candidates likely to contest as independents, the task of printing ballot papers for a local poll like this is not expected to be easy.
Apart from ballot papers, formulating a new electoral code of conduct and finalising procedures may not be easy in such a short time.
The EC will have to hold local government polls on party lines if the law is amended, says EC Secretary Md Sirajul Islam.
“But it will be a real challenge to hold the polls along party lines in such a short time. There’s still some times, let us see what happens,” he told bdnews24.com on Sunday.
Amending the law requires the Cabinet’s approval before a bill can be placed in Parliament.
It has to be then vetted by the parliamentary standing committee before it is put to vote in parliament.
But an ordinance issued by the government can help avoid the long process. The EC will then have to only amend some regulations.
Meanwhile a former election commissioner says he is against local government polls on party lines.
“It seems no elections will remain non-partisan,” former commissioner Sohul Hussain told bdnews24.com.
He admitted though that, in reality, local government polls are influenced by political parties.
Hussain, however, says he thinks that a lot of eligible candidates who considers themselves as non-partisan will not contest if these polls are held on party lines.
Officials of the local government ministry and the Cabinet division told bdnews24.com that the process is on to amend the law and a draft might be tabled at Monday’s regular Cabinet meeting.
“The amended municipality law has been prepared and forwarded to the Cabinet division. It’s up to them to put it before the Cabinet,” said local government division’s Deputy Secretary (municipalities) Khalilur Rahman.
If the law is amended, then the EC will have to hold voting in not only a single municipality, but in more than 300 such bodies across the country.