Elections to the union parishad will be held by the end of March, Election Commissioner Md Shah Nawaz yesterday said.
He said the first phase of UP elections would be held in the 600 union parishads where officeholders’ tenures expire in March.
The Election Commission is drafting amendments to the rules governing UP elections to allow seats to be contested along party lines, Shahnewaz told journalists at the EC Secretariat yesterday afternoon. The amendments would be ready within a day or two before being sent to the Law Ministry for vetting.
But whether or not the polls would be party-based had not yet been decided, he said.
Asked whether lawmakers would be allowed to campaign for union parishad candidates, he replied: “The rules will be similar to the municipal elections but to ensure a level playing field, the EC is not planning to prohibit upazila chairmen from campaigning since they are local level leaders.”
However, he said: “We will not halt UP elections if a council candidate dies as is done in municipal elections. But if a chairmanship candidate dies, then the election in that union will be stopped.”
Meanwhile, the EC postponed voting due to vote rigging at two centres in Madhabdi and Choumohoni municipalities yesterday, Shahnewaz said. “In Kalkini, several people were fined for casting fake votes. But in other municipalities, the polls were peaceful.”
Re-polling took place at 55 polling centres in 20 municipalities yesterday.