The Election Commission (EC) is pushing back against allegations that it was negligence on their part that led to the postponement of a by-election for the post of mayor of Dhaka North, as well as voting for 36 new councillor posts equally divided between the North and South, on the strength of a High Court judgement, reports UNB. Acting to the EC Helaluddin Ahmed instead pointed to "legal complexities" as the grounds for the HC verdict. The Commission initiated the move for arrangement of the by-elections and announced by-polls schedules for Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) after receiving request from the Local Government Ministry, he told a briefing after a meeting of the Election Commission yesterday. Helaluddin said the EC conducts the national election as their constitutional duty, while arranging local government elections following requests of the local government ministry.

"There is a law cell in the Local Government Ministry. The ministry requests us through letter after getting clearance from its law cell," he added.

The Election Commission on January 9 announced the by-election schedules for the DNCC mayoral post, the councilor posts in 18 new wards of DNCC and 18 new wards of DSCC. But the High Court (HC) has recently stayed for three months the DNCC mayoral by-polls and elections to the councilor posts in 36 new wards in DNCC and DSCC.

The EC acting secretary said the Commission had discussed the court orders during the normal course of the day and decided to postpone the by-election process until the stay orders are withdrawn. He said the EC meeting took a decision in principle to introduce voter registration process for Bangladeshi expatriates in the foreign lands. A seminar will be held over the issue in the 3rd week of February.