Future of the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) elections is once again uncertain as the Election Commission feared further legal complications if the poll schedule was announced excluding 13 areas in Sultanganj according to Local Government Division’s latest directive.
Earlier, the government added 13 new areas in Sultanganj under the Dhaka South City Corporation.
On Sunday, Local Government Division sent a letter to the EC for holding the split Dhaka City Corporations elections as soon as possible, keeping these areas out of the metropolis.
However, Election Commissioner Md Shah Newaz yesterday said, the EC would not hold the split DCC polls until demarcation of DCC wards are complete.
“The local government and rural development ministry has demarcated split DCC but is yet to demarcate 13 new areas in Sultanganj. We would not announce the polls schedule without completing the delimitation of these 13 areas,’ he added.
According to the Local Government (City Corporation) Act 2009, section-4, if an area is included in a city corporation, it falls under the rules, regulations and procedures of the City Corporation act.
“If the EC declares the polls schedule for DCC excluding 13 areas, it will violate the city corporation act,” the commissioner said.
The election commissioner also said that the EC would send letter to the local government and rural development ministry asking further explanation over the issue.
“If the local government ministry takes more time for the demarcation of 13 areas in Sultanganj, the EC will hold the split DCC polls after the Eid-ul-Fitr,” Newaz said.
Replying to a question, he said, the EC would hold the bifurcated DCC polls on the same day and is prepared to hold the polls as soon as possible.
The DCC elections were originally slated for May 24 last year, but the High Court (HC) issued a three-month stay order due to complexity of preparing the voters’ list and delimitation of the area, after a petition was submitted by Advocate Manzill Murshid.
On May 13, the HC cleared the way for the election by withdrawing the stay order.
The Dhaka City Corporation was split into two—South and North—on November 30, 2011 through passage of a bill that amended the 2009 local government act.
The amended bill showed then mayor Sadek Hossain Khoka and 92 ward councilors the door. They had the privilege to stay in office four years beyond their tenure until the amendments to the act were endorsed in parliament.
The last election to Dhaka City Corporation was held in April 2002. Awami League, then the major opposition, did not float any candidate and Khoka, then a minister of BNP government, became mayor for five years.