Pleas to defer municipal polls
No change in schedule: EC
No lawmakers will be allowed to campaign for the elections: CEC
STAFF REPORTER
The Election Commission (EC) said yesterday that it would not defer the municipal polls scheduled for December 30, and rejected the demand of political parties for allowing lawmakers to campaign for the elections.
Chief Election Commission (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said the EC had discussed the demands of the political parties and decided that these could not be fulfilled due to shortage of time.
We had a meeting with the political parties and discussed their demands. And we decided that no lawmakers will be allowed to campaign for the election. It will not be proper to amend the poll code of conduct at this point of time, he said.
Speaking about deferment of the poll schedule, Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said: We also discussed whether the election can be deferred by a single day. We have finalised the date for election considering the legal binding. So there is no scope for postponing the polls.
The CEC was replying to questions of journalists at the EC Secretariat in the capital.
Earlier, the Awami League, Jatiya Party and the Workers Party demanded that lawmakers be allowed to campaign for the municipal elections. On the other hand, the BNP and some other political parties demanded deferment of elections. The EC, however, rejected the demands.
Replying to another question whether candidates of the Jamaat-e-Islmai could contest the elections, Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said: According to law, only a registered party can certify candidates for elections. Their candidates can contest the polls as independent, but they cannot use the party symbol.
Earlier yesterday, led by general secretary Fazle Hossain Badsha, MP, a Workers Party delegation met the CEC and placed its demands, saying imposing a ban on lawmakers in campaigning for the polls is unacceptable. Its like taking away their rights.
Fazle Hossain Badsha told journalists that the EC did not hold talks with the political parties while formulating the election code of conduct.
The EC should not allow candidates having links with terror outfits and those who had opposed the January 5, 2014 elections and the unregistered Jamaat-e-Islami to contest the upcoming polls, he said.
