The Election Commission will publish the results of Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet city corporations elections in official gazette by next week, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said.
“There is no problem for the EC to publish the gazette of four city corporations polls and would do so, after scrutinising the election results. There is no legal complicationon publishing the gazette,” he told the media at the EC secretariat on Thursday.
About taking oath, the CEC said, the local government and rural development ministry is overseeing the matter while the EC’s task is publishing the gazette of the election results, he said.
Meanwhile, Election Commissioner Md Shah Newaz had told the media on Wednesday that the EC would not publish the gazette before September or October.
“The tenure of four city corporations would expire in October, so the newly elected mayors and councillors cannot take charge before that. The EC would not publish the gazette of four city corporations before September or October,” he said.
According to the Local Government (City Corporation) Act, Section-6, the five-year tenure of city corporations will begin from the first meeting and as per Section-34 of the Act, the election must be held six months before the tenure expires.
However, as per the law, the EC should publish the gazette as soon as possible. The section-7(2) says, the newly elected mayors and councillors must take oaths within a month from the date of the publication of the gazette.
The LGRD ministry will take initiative of the oath after publishing the gazette. However, the mayors and councillors cannot take to office until its current tenure expires in October.
BNP-backed mayor candidates won the four city corporation elections, which were held on June 15.