Elections to 234 municipalities across the country will be held on December 30, said Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad yesterday.
The CEC announced the election schedule for 234 out of the country’s 323 municipalities from a press briefing at the Media Centre of the EC Secretariat in Dhaka.
As per schedule, the deadline for submission of nomination is December 3. Scrutiny will be held on December 5 and 6 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is December 13.
This year, these local elections will be partly partisan for the first time in history and partly the other way round.
According to the recently passed Local Government (Municipality) (Amendment) Bill 2015, only the elections to the mayoral posts will be partisan meaning that candidates will be able to contest with party symbols.
Polls to the general and reserved-women councillor posts will be non-partisan as usual.
Additional deputy commissioners, second highest government administrative officers at the district level, have been appointed returning officers.
Some 71,62,396 voters – 35,86,356 men and 35,76,040 women – will be able to exercise their franchise through 19,187 booths of possible 3,582 polling stations during the elections.
The elections will see contests for 3,924 seats – 234 mayors, 738 councillors, from reserve seat set apart from women and 2,952 general councillors.
The CEC said no political party registered with the Election Commission can give its nomination to more than one aspirant in a single municipality. If so, the nomination papers of all aspirants nominated by the party concerned will be rejected.
President or general secretary or persons holding equivalent posts in a political party or persons authorised by the aforementioned persons can nominate party’s mayoral candidates.
City corporation mayors and MPs will also not be allowed to participate in electioneering for any candidate.
As per the election code of conduct, VVIPs enjoying government privileges cannot take part in campaigning, Rakibuddin said.
The VVIPs include prime minister, parliament speaker, ministers, chief whip, deputy speaker, opposition leader and deputy leader of the House and opposition deputy leader, state ministers, whips, deputy minister, those holding posts equivalent to VVIPs, MPs and city corporation mayors.
Independent mayor aspirants, except those who were elected as mayor of the municipality in the past, need to collect the signatures of 100 voters of their respective municipalities to contest the polls as per the rules.
A political party can spend up to Tk1 lakh as election expenditure in each municipality.
The Commission has the legal obligation to hold election to a municipality within 90 days before the expiry of its five-year tenure.
It arranged elections to 265 municipalities in four phases in January 2011.