The Election Commission (EC) has finally broken its silence regarding Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) elections, saying that the DCC polls would not be held before the Parliamentary elections due to boundary disputes. “DCC polls are unlikely to be held before the next general elections,” election commissioner Md Shah Nawaz said on Monday. Shah Nawaz said that the commission had sent a letter to the ministry of local government for resolving the boundary issues. The ministry concerned, however, had not made any reply in this regard, he added.
The EC has conducted five city corporation polls before the end of the incumbent government’s term. Hence, the general perception was the DCC polls would be held in due time. Incidentally, the term of the DCC ended seven years ago.
“We haven’t received any response from the ministry concerned, as a result of which we cannot conduct the DCC polls in time,” Shah Nawaz said, in reply to a question.
On December 29, 2012, the Awami League-led 14-party alliance government passed a bill in Parliament, bifurcating the Dhaka City Corporation into two.
According to EC officials, the commission has started preparations for the much-awaited DCC polls. According to the EC secretariat, however, the government wants to complete the DCC elections before Ramadan.
On April 9 this year, the EC announced a schedule of DCC polls, but the election process came to a grinding halt following legal complications over boundary delimitation relating to Sultanganj and the resultant filing of a writ.
The local government ministry, through a gazette notification, had cleared all barriers to conducting the DCC elections by including Sultanganj in DCC Ward No 57. But once again, an aggrieved person filed a case in the local court, suspending the polls.
Now Dhaka city has 92 wards, of which 56 fall under Dhaka South City Corporation, while Dhaka North City Corporation has 36. Sultanganj now falls under Dhaka South Ward No. 57.
According to the EC, Old Dhaka, along with Motijheel, Ramna, Khilgaon, Demra, Sabujbagh and Dhanmondi, come under Dhaka South. Dhaka North includes Uttara, Baddah, Baridhara, Banani, Gulshan, Rampura, Mohakhali, Tejgaon, Mohammadpur, Kafrul, Pallabi and Mirpur.
The last DCC elections were held in April 2002. The Awami League, the then major opposition, did not float any candidate and Sadeque Hossain Khoka, then a minister of the BNP-led government, became mayor for five years but continued in the post for more than 12 years for a number of reasons.
-With The Independent input
