Election Commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain on Tuesday said that chapter of the long overdue elections of the Dhaka City Corporation was now closed as the concerned ministry does not want to hold the polls for some special reasons.
‘This (DCC polls) chapter is closed now. The government may have a political plan for the DCC elections,’ Shakawat told reporters at his office.
He said that this election was the responsibility of the local government ministry and it is not willing to
hold the polls at this moment for certain reasons.
Referring to the recent comment by LGRD minister Syed Ashraful Islam on the Union Parishad, municipal and DCC elections, Shakawat Hossain said the EC is always ready to arrange and conduct all local government elections as well as the DCC elections. (Ashraf had told newsmen that they would hold the UP and municipal polls, but did not mention the DCC polls.)
He said that as per the electoral rules, the local government polls have to held within 180 days after the conclusion of the five-year term.
‘But the five-year period has already expired, and after negotiating with the local government ministry we have to hold these elections,’ he said.
Shakawat said that it will be very difficult to arrange these elections after March-April next year due to inclement weather.
When asked to comment on Sakhawat’s statement, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s senior joint secretary-general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, ‘Election commissioner Sakhawat Hossain’s statement lends credence to our longstanding concern and claim that the government is interfering with various machineries of the state, including the Election Commission, judiciary and administration.’
‘It proves that the government does not believe in democracy. They are even hindering the work of the election commissioners,’ he added.
The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, earlier indicated that the DCC polls would be delayed after a meeting with Syed Ashraful Islam and prime minister’s adviser HT Imam in the Election Commission secretariat on October 13.
Referring to the inadequacy of manpower, the CEC said that a number of files of the commission, including recruitment of more manpower, have been shelved in government offices. He said that the commission had asked the government to expedite the process of approving the files. He also
said that the commission is in a difficult situation because of certain problems, but did not specify them.
The election commission had earlier postponed the DCC polls planned for May 31 at the insistence of the government and Awami League. On April 15 it deferred the elections by five months at the request of the government. The government’s high-ups had apprised the EC of their desire to redraw the boundaries of the DCC ward constituencies before the polls. They had
also asked the commission to defer the polls until winter.
