The Election Commission has no plan yet to hold direct elections to the 50 parliamentary seats reserved exclusively for women.
This was stated by Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq, also responsible for the EC secretariat in Parliament, in reply to a tabled question of ruling Awami League MP AFM Bahauddin (Nasim) of Madaripur-3.On March 10, LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam expressed the hope that the election to the reserved seats will not be needed in future and the women will be MPs through direct voting.
“Our target is that the women will come to Parliament through direct election in at least 20 percent of the seats. We’re working towards this goal,” Syed Ashraf told reporters when he went to the EC secretariat for submitting nomination papers of 41 MP aspirants of AL-led six-party parliamentary alliance for the reserved seats.
Replying to a starred tabled question of Md Abdullah (Laxmipur-4), the Law Minister said the EC arranged elections in 4,439 union parishads across the country between November 2010 and October 30, 2013.
Polls could not be held in 134 other union parishads for various complexities including delimitations, electoral rolls and legal complications. – UNB
