Posters banned, billboard limits set under local government election code of conduct

The Election Commission (EC) has finalised the draft of a new code of conduct for elections across the five tiers of local government and sent it to the law ministry for scrutiny.

In the draft of the new regulations, posters have been banned in local elections, mirroring the rules for parliamentary polls.

However, provisions have been retained to allow the use of banners, leaflets, festoons, and a limited number of billboards.

Provisions have also been included to account for social media campaigning costs within overall election expenditure, as well as to tackle the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI).

Drafts of separate codes of conduct have been finalised for five types of local government elections: city corporations, municipalities, Upazilas, district, and Union councils.

Senior EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said on Monday: “The code of conduct for the local government elections has been approved. Once scrutinised, it will be published as a gazette.”

The drafts of these conduct rules were published on the EC website last June to seek feedback, with the final draft prepared after reviewing the responses received.