Polls to the bifurcated Dhaka City Corporation and the Chittagong City Corporation would be held on April 28, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said yesterday.
The last date of submitting nomination papers is March 29 while the candidates would be able to withdraw candidature by April 9. The returning officers would scrutinise the applications on April 1 and 2, the CEC said at a press conference at his office.
Election symbols would be allocated for valid mayoral candidates and councillor aspirants on April 10, he said adding that the EC would not use electric-voting machines.
The announcement came only two days after the police chief asked the EC to arrange polls within April. Meanwhile, the government has already announced that the Higher Secondary Certificate exams will begin on April 1.
The last election of the DCC was held in April 2002 in which the Awami League, then main opposition, did not participate. The Dhaka City Corporation was split on November 29, 2011. The last mayoral election in Chittagong held in 2010.
Three returning officers have been appointed to conduct the polls. Of them, Regional Election Officer Mir Sarwar Morshed will oversee polls in Dhaka South City Corporation, Dhaka District Election Officer Md Shah Alam in Dhaka North City Corporation while Regional Election Officer Md Abdul Baten in Chittagong City Corporation.
The CEC requested the candidates to properly follow the election rules and regulations, and asked them to remove all kinds of campaign materials – billboards and posters – within 48 hours. “Otherwise, we will take legal action against them,” he warned.
The candidates would get certain time for publicity and they would have to stop the campaigns before the election.
He said they would declare April 28 a holiday in the election areas.
Urging voters to exercise their franchise, the CEC said: “We have introduced online messaging system this time, through which the voters will get information about their voting centres and serial numbers.”
Though it is a non-political election, he said: “We observed earlier that the political parties support candidates.
“Blockade and hartals are political programmes on which we have no control. But we will take steps so that people can caste their votes without any obstacle. We have discussed security issues with the law enforcement agencies and they did not warn us about any possible adverse situation.”
About deploying army, he said the EC had not made any decision in this regard.
However, the law enforcers are set to launch special drives from today in the capital and the port city. The step is taken based on intelligence report that centring the polls, at least 750 criminals would gather in the two cities to foil the elections.
The law enforcers in Dhaka and Chittagong have already prepared lists of criminals.
Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, state minister of home affairs, said special drives would be conducted to hold the city corporation elections peacefully.
DMP Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman said the law enforcers would catch criminals and recover illegal arms.
Presently, the law enforcers are conducting special operation to stop sabotage activities during the ongoing blockade and hartal programmes of the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
The BNP is yet to decide whether to back any candidate for the city corporation polls or not, said party insiders. The party is likely to make a decision on the matter only if the leaders can hold a meeting, a senior leader said seeking anonymity.
After the schedules were declared, the Awami League-backed candidates started removing campaign materials yesterday.
Dhaka north candidate Sayeed Khokon the Dhaka Tribune last night that they had already taken down billboards from Karwan Bazar intersection. “As the schedules have been declared, I will start door-to-door campaigns now.”
About multiple candidates from the Awami League, he said: “It is the party's high command who will make the decision.”
Former FBCCI president Annisul Huq, who has also been nominated by the prime minister, said he would start removing the campaign materials immediately.”