Voting to the elections for the city corporations in Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal can be expected in late July, says an Election Commission (EC) official.
The commissioners are set for a meeting on Tuesday (May 27), when they will discuss about announcing the polls schedule, according to EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed.
“The meeting is expected to lock in the date for voting after going through details like, the tenure of the city corporations, Eid holidays and exams,” he told Bangla Tribune.
Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda, however, has said earlier that they wanted to complete the polls to the three city corporations by July.
The Commission is now evaluating legal aspects despite getting a clearance from the local government ministry after redistricting fiascos stalled the Dhaka North City polls and deferred the Gazipur election, according to Ahmed.
“Local government polls are not the EC’s concern, but we oversee it upon the ministry’s request. Since we have to administer it, we clear the matters of legal aspects, like the boundary issues, from the ministry before announcing schedules,” said the EC secretary.
Referring to the lawsuits over the polls to Dhaka North and Gazipur cities, he said that they had “received an NOC from the ministry. But still the matter was taken to court.”
According to the official, the Commission has received clearances twice over the polls, but it still seeks a final green light before proceeding.
“The ministry, through its legal aid wing, has already informed us that everything is ok. But we will confirm once again.”
EC officials said that the Commission has opened official initiatives on holding the three city corporation elections with completing the electoral roll as well as issuing official orders for the polling stations.
According to them, the EC is proceeding with a target to hold the election in late July and plans to announce the schedules before mid June.
Meanwhile, the Commission has lifted the bar on MP’s taking part in city polls campaign as it has green lighted the amendment to the code of conduct, which now awaits the law ministry’s vetting.
The gazette notification is expected to be issued after the Jun 26 voting in Gazipur City Corporation.
The last time polls held in the three city corporations were on Jun 15, 2013.
Based on the first meetings the city corporations had, terms of Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal ends on Oct 5, 8 and 24 this year, which is the deadline for holding the next polls.
The Commission also plans to hold the by-election for the Kurigram-3 parliamentary constituency and polls to several Upazila councils and municipal corporations the same day when the three cities will go to polls.