Dhaka, Nov 3 – Election Commission (EC) is taking preparation to hold the elections to the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) in January next year. EC senior secretary Md Alamgir came up with the statement while talking to the journalists at his office yesterday.
“The elections to the two city corporations in Dhaka are likely to be held in mid-January or at the end of January next year. The elections to DNCC will be eligible on 15 November and DSCC on 18 November,” he said.
Asked about the schedule of the elections, he said, EC will announce the schedule for the elections to the two city corporations at any day after November 19.
The elections would be held under the current voter list.
The secretary also said EC will use Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in all the centres of the two city corporations.
However, he said the holding of elections using EVMs is a big challenge but EC will do it.
Asked about any legal complexities in holding the polls, he said, “As of now we don’t see any such matter.”
Alamgir said they have come up with the decision of holding polls as the Commission has received green signal from the local government ministry to arrange elections.
In reply to a query of holding Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) polls, he said, “EC, however, did not have any such decision right now. But the elections of CCC will be held in March or later with new voter lists.”
The elections of CCC will be eligible in February so the elections would be held in March or later. The terms of office of the CCC will end in July 2020.
The schedule of the CCC elections would be determined considering the public examinations of secondary school certificate (SSC) in February and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations in April.
The CCC elections would be held in the new voter list which will be finalised in January.
The elections to DNCC, DSCC and CCC were held on 28 April 2015.
As per the local government (city corporation) law, the elections are held 180 days prior to the end of the tenure of the completion of five years.
The first meeting CCC was held on 6 August 2015. On the other hand, the first meeting of DNCC was held on 14 May and DSCC on 17 May.
Following such matter, the tenure of CCC will end in July 2020. The tenure of DNCC will end on 13 May 2020 and DSCC on 16 May 2020.
Before disclosing the information to the journalists, the Commissions held a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda in the chair. – Staff Reporter
