Moinul Hoque Chowdhury
Dhaka, Apr 06 (bdnews24.com) — The government has agreed the maximum level of expenditure allowed by candidates in the mayor and councilor elections in all the six city corporations.
The law ministry on Monday approved Local Government (City Corporation) Rules, code of conduct and Electronic Voting Machine Regulation. which imposes election expenditure for the mayor candidates to a maximum of Tk 50 lakh and for the councillors, Tk six lakh. Additional money can also be spent on personal expenses.
The regulation also sets out a new method to calculate how much money can be spent in each constituency which is dependent on the number of voters.
Election commission secretary Mohammad Humayun Kabir told bdnews24.com, "The law ministry has approved common city corporation Regulations. These regulations will be issued as a gazette by Thursday."
On Sunday, chief election commissioner ATM Samsul Huda said if the Regulation was passed by Apr 15, the election schedule for the Dhaka City Corporation could be declared a few days later.
He also said the election might be held at the end of May.
About the limits set for election expenditure, the election commission said that the numbers of voters were different in the city corporations. Therefore, the commission thought that it would be fair if the election expenditure should be in proportion to the electorates.
Election commission senior assistant secretary Abdul Baten said the drafts sent by the commission were approved unchanged after scrutiny.
According to the new regulation, the mayor candidates in the upcoming DCC election will be able to spend a maximum of Tk 50 lakh while the councilor candidates can expend a maximum of Tk 6 lakh.
The updated voter list of DCC enlists more than 37 lakh voters. The number is about 10 lakh in Chittagong, two lakh and 57 thousand in Rajshahi, three lakh and 98 thousand in Khulna, one lakh and 77 thousand in Barisal and two lakh and 54 thousand in Sylhet.
Elections for the DCC regime should have taken place by May 24, 2007. Elections for the Chittagong administration should take place by May 9 this year.
Elections for Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal elections were held on Aug 4, 2008, and elections will not need to take place until 2013
Mayors
The new regulation, states that permitted election expenses for council elections will be Tk 15 lakh for upto five lakh voters, Tk 20 lakh for between five to ten lakh voters, Tk 30 lakh for 10 to 20 lakh voters and Tk 50 lakh for more than 20 lakh voters.
Moreover, personal expenses for the mayoral candidates has been restricted to Tk 75,000 for five lakh voters, Tk one lakh for 10 lakh voters, Tk one and a half lakh for 20 lakh voters and Tk two lakh for more than 20 lakh voters
Councilors
The new election regulation restricted the expenditure for the councilor candidates to Tk one lakh for 15,000 voters, Tk two lakh for 30,000 voters, Tk four lakh for 50,000 voters and Tk six lakhs for over 50,000 voters.
The councilor candidates' maximum individual – as opposed to election - expenses have been fixed to Tk 10,000 for 15,000 voters, Tk 20,000 for 30,000 voters, Tk 30,000 for 50,000 voters and Tk 50,000 for above 50,000 voters.
Security Money
The amount of security money also has been fixed proportionately to the number of votes in the newly approved election regulation. It is Tk 20,000 for five lakh voters, Tk 30,000 for 10 lakh voters, Tk 50,000 for 20 lakh voters and Tk one lakh for over 20 lakh voters.
This year, however, the security money will not be taken in cash. The candidates have to deposit the money through bank drafts or treasury invoices, officials said.
For the ninth parliamentary elections, the election commission had increased by three times the amount that can be spent in the elections
In this election the mayoral candidates are not allowed to go to voters' residences.
Moreover, for the first time ever, the commission is introducing electronic voting machines in the upcoming DCC polls – in ward 49 of the capital's Dhanmondi.
According to the EVM regulation, any fraudulent activity in e-voting will be considered as cyber crime and will be punished in line with the existing laws.
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