The Election Commission (EC) is in a bit of difficulty in holding the by-election to the mayoral post and elections in the 18 new wards of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC). EC sources said a high-profile meeting would be held on Sunday to figure out how to hold the elections, as there might be legal complications. Sources said the EC at its meeting would take the opinions of the local government regarding the procedure to be adopted for holding the polls in the 18 new wards recently added to the DNCC jurisdiction. The holding of the mayoral by-election does not pose any problem and the election schedule can be announced as the local government has declared the post vacant. But the EC is contemplating whether to hold elections to the 18 new wards now or later.

The commission has to decide whether the tenure of the ward councillors of the 18 new wards would be for five years or their periods would end with the completion DNCC’s term in a little over two years from now. The first DNCC elections were held on Apr 28, 2015 and the next polls would be due in 2020. The local government ministry in August showed the green light to the EC to hold elections to the new 18 wards of the DNCC but the EC has not held the polls yet.

Now, as the mayoral post is lying vacant due to the demise of its mayor Annisul Huq on November 30, the EC is planning to hold polls to the new wards added to the DNCC along with the by-poll. Electoral experts say the EC cannot avoid the fresh elections to the 18 new wards, as that would create legal complications.

“The delimitation of the new wards has been completed. So there is no reason to avoid elections to the new wards. The voters have to exercise their rights in those elections,” election experts Dr Tofail Ahmed told The Independent.

Asked about the tenure of the new ward councillors if elections are held now, he said, “There are two solutions. The government can determine it by law that it would be for five years. Second, is that, as the elections will be held for an interim period, the government can fix the tenure till the next DNCC polls.”

“The EC meeting on the DNCC polls will be held on Sunday. A final decision might be taken there regarding the elections to 18 new wards,” Helal Uddin Ahmed, secretary in-charge of the Election Commission Secretariat, told The Independent on Friday. Regarding the tenure of the councillors of new wards if elections are held, he said, “Legal matters are involved here. Whether the tenure would be for five years or till the end of the current tenure of DNCC polls will have to be examined.”

He said, “Local government suggestion would be taken here to determine the tenure of the new councillors.” In July, the Local Government Division added 18 wards to Dhaka North and 18 wards Dhaka South City Corporations. After their addition, the number of wards of Dhaka North stands at 54 from the earlier 36 wards, while Dhaka South now has 75 wards, up from the previous 57.

At Sunday’s meeting, the EC has to fix the date for holding the by-elections and fresh elections to the new wards, taking into account the schedule of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams, which would be held in February.

According to Article 16 of the Local Government (City Corporation) Act 2009, if any post of mayor or councillor of a city corporation falls vacant, 180 days before the expiry of their tenures, a by-election to the post shall be held within 90 days from the day it falls vacant to fill the post for the rest of the tenure.

Earlier, the local government on December 4 declared that the mayoral post of DNCC had fallen vacant on December 1 after the death of its mayor Annisul Huq. According to the Act, the by-election to mayoral post has to be held by February.