State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam has said the government has no knowledge of the Election Commission’s plan to hold Union Parishad (UP) elections in seven phases.
He made the remarks while speaking to journalists at the Secretariat on Tuesday morning, a day after Election Commissioner Abul Fazl Md Sanauallah announced the tentative schedule for the elections.
“The government knows nothing about the announcement of the UP election dates. The Local Government Ministry is also unaware of it,” the state minister said.
He said there had been no correspondence between the government and the Election Commission regarding the election schedule, nor had there been any discussion through other channels.
“The Election Commission is an independent body and has the constitutional authority to conduct elections,” Mir Shahe Alam said.
He added that, under the usual practice, the EC discusses local government elections with the government before announcing the schedule. Preparatory meetings and law and order committee meetings are also held, involving issues such as the budget.
“But no such discussion has taken place between the Election Commission and the government or the Local Government Ministry,” he said.
On Monday, Election Commissioner Abul Fazl Md Sanauallah said the UP elections would be held in seven phases, with the first phase tentatively scheduled for November 12.
Speaking to journalists at the Election Commission building in Agargaon, he said the first phase would mark the beginning of the local government elections.
The tentative dates for the subsequent phases are December 13, December 30, January 17, February 4, April 22 and May 27.
The EC had earlier planned to announce the election schedule in August and begin local government elections in October.
In June, the then local government minister told Parliament that local government elections could begin across the country in phases from September or October after the monsoon season. However, the plan did not materialise.