BNP to stay away from district council polls

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will not take part in the forthcoming district council (zila parishad) elections, regardless of whether they are held on a partisan or non-partisan basis, according to party insiders. Terming the government’s move as ridiculous, they said “selected persons” would be elected by the ruling party’s elected representatives. The government wanted to prove that there was an election culture in the country, the party insiders added.
“We have no interest in the zila parishad elections. These polls would be a meaningless exercise. These would be farcical polls as the ruling party representatives will elect their party candidates,” said BNP vice chairman Mohammad Shajahan. The BNP leader said those who would be elected public representatives through “farcical elections” at the city corporation, pourasabha, upazila and union parishad levels would vote to elect the zila parishad chairpersons and executive members. He alleged that under the pretext of holding polls, the government was killing time and trying to shift the people’s attention from its misdeeds.
Under the law, only the elected representatives of different local government bodies—city corporations, upazila parishads and union parishads—would be able to cast their votes to elect the chairpersons, 15 general members and five women members for each district council.
On Tuesday, election commissioner Shah Nawaz told reporters that the first-ever elections to the district councils would likely to be held on December 28. The poll schedule would be announced in mid-November.
Earlier on Monday, the local government and rural development (LGRD) ministry sent a letter to the EC requesting it to hold the district council elections on December 28.
However, it is still not clear whether the elections would be held on a partisan basis, by bringing an amendment to the law, or whether they would be held in line with the existing law.
On October 6, Parliament passed the District Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Records show that in 2000, the AL-led government repealed the Zila Parishad Act, 1988, and passed the District Council Act, 2000, with a provision for holding direct polls for the zila parishads.
According to the law, any citizen will be able to contest the polls, but they cannot vote. On the other hand, elected representatives can vote for the candidates, but they cannot be candidates. Some 67,000 elected representatives with the local government tiers will cast their votes in the polls. No elections to the councils have been held so far as bureaucrats ran those bodies for several years. In 2008, the AL-led government again took an initiative to implement the law. As part of the initiative, in 2011 the government appointed 61 administrators, mostly top leaders of the ruling party’s district units, to as many district councils. Now, the government has taken the initiative to hold the polls as the five-year tenure of the administrators is ending. In 1988, the then HM Ershad government passed the Zila Parishad Law, which was abolished by the BNP in 1991. In 2000, the AL-led government passed the law again, but it was not implemented as the BNP-led government assumed power in 2001.

BNP to stay away from district council polls

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will not take part in the forthcoming district council (zila parishad) elections, regardless of whether they are held on a partisan or non-partisan basis, according to party insiders. Terming the governments move as ridiculous, they said selected persons would be elected by the ruling partys elected representatives. The government wanted to prove that there was an election culture in the country, the party insiders added. We have no interest in the zila parishad elections. These polls would be a meaningless exercise. These would be farcical polls as the ruling party representatives will elect their party candidates, said BNP vice chairman Mohammad Shajahan. The BNP leader said those who would be elected public representatives through farcical elections at the city corporation, pourasabha, upazila and union parishad levels would vote to elect the zila parishad chairpersons and executive members. He alleged that under the pretext of holding polls, the government was killing time and trying to shift the peoples attention from its misdeeds. Under the law, only the elected representatives of different local government bodiescity corporations, upazila parishads and union parishadswould be able to cast their votes to elect the chairpersons, 15 general members and five women members for each district council. On Tuesday, election commissioner Shah Nawaz told reporters that the first-ever elections to the district councils would likely to be held on December 28. The poll schedule would be announced in mid-November. Earlier on Monday, the local government and rural development (LGRD) ministry sent a letter to the EC requesting it to hold the district council elections on December 28. However, it is still not clear whether the elections would be held on a partisan basis, by bringing an amendment to the law, or whether they would be held in line with the existing law. On October 6, Parliament passed the District Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Records show that in 2000, the AL-led government repealed the Zila Parishad Act, 1988, and passed the District Council Act, 2000, with a provision for holding direct polls for the zila parishads. According to the law, any citizen will be able to contest the polls, but they cannot vote. On the other hand, elected representatives can vote for the candidates, but they cannot be candidates. Some 67,000 elected representatives with the local government tiers will cast their votes in the polls. No elections to the councils have been held so far as bureaucrats ran those bodies for several years. In 2008, the AL-led government again took an initiative to implement the law. As part of the initiative, in 2011 the government appointed 61 administrators, mostly top leaders of the ruling partys district units, to as many district councils. Now, the government has taken the initiative to hold the polls as the five-year tenure of the administrators is ending. In 1988, the then HM Ershad government passed the Zila Parishad Law, which was abolished by the BNP in 1991. In 2000, the AL-led government passed the law again, but it was not implemented as the BNP-led government assumed power in 2001.