The government is planning to hold elections to the both Dhaka City Corporations (DCC north and DCC south) after the ongoing upazila parishad polls which will end on March 31.
The Election Commission, however, said that they cannot hold the polls before the demarcation-related problems in both the city corporation areas are resolved.
The EC will hold the election as soon as the LGRD and cooperative ministry resolves the delimitation issue, EC Secretariat sources said.“The government has already made a decision to hold the much-talked-about DCC elections just after the completion of the upazial parishad elections to ensure smooth services to the city dwellers,” said a senior Awami League leader.
AL joint General Secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif said lone candidates will be ensured in the upcoming DCC polls in an effort to bid to win the race.
AL deputy publicity and publications affairs secretary Ashim Kumar Ukil said, the DCC elections will be held after Upazila council polls. “I can’t say that exactly in which month the polls are going to be held,” he added.
As the Awami League Dhaka city unit leaders have been asked to complete its councils by this month to revamp organisational activities as well as taking preparation to contest the upcoming DCC polls. The party has already started to hold councils in the capital.
An Awami League presidium member said the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had asked the leaders of Dhaka City AL to take preparation for the two Dhaka city corporation elections.
“If you (city leaders) remain prepared, I (Hasina) will arrange the DCC polls,” he said quoting the primer after ending Awami League Central Working Committee (ALCWC) meeting that was held at Gonobhban on Wednesday night.
Election Commissioner Mohammad Shah Nawaz, he said, they will take initiative to hold the DCC polls just after resolving the demarcation-related problems in both the city corporation areas.”
EC secretariat sources said, “We sent a letter to the local government ministry on the last week to know the latest position of delimitation issues but we are yet to get reply in this regard.”
The government divided the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) into two entities in November 2011 in an apparent move to remove the then mayor Sadeque Hossain, also a senior BNP leader, through the enactment of a law provisioning for elections in the next 90 days.
Although the commission announced the schedule for the polls to two city corporations posting the polling for May 24, 2012, a writ petition followed by a High Court stay order halted the polls.
The High Court on May 13, 2013 dismissed a writ that had challenged the legality of the city elections scheduled for May 24, 2012 but neither the local government ministry nor the Election Commission has taken any visible initiatives to hold the elections.
Since then, the city dwellers have been suffering for lack of services in the absence of elected representatives as they could not approach anyone to lodge complaints or for seek services as the city corporations continue to be run by administrators. – Staff Reporter
