Election dates for five city corporations of the country have been announced.
The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday ordered the removal of the posters-billboards and other campaign materials that have been put up for campaigning before the schedule of these elections is announced.
The directive has been asked to be implemented by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives through the local governments.
Earlier, Election Commissioner Md Alamgir told reporters that the candidates will be known after filing the nomination papers. In this case, if anyone violates the electoral code of conduct, his candidature will be cancelled.
The directive signed by Md Atiar Rahman, deputy secretary, Election Commission Secretariat, on Tuesday has been sent to the ministry's secretary.
It mentioned that Gazipur City Corporation elections will be held on May 25, Khulna and Barisal City Corporation elections on June 12 and Rajshahi and Sylhet City Corporation elections will be held on June 21.
The Election Commission has decided to remove posters, banners, wall writings, billboards, gates, arches or enclosures, pandals and lighting etc. of potential candidates and campaign materials and election camps if they exist, added the directive.
For this purpose, it is necessary to instruct the various local government institutions including the city corporation to take necessary measures to remove the relevant persons at their own expense before the last date of submission of nomination papers, if they have election campaign materials, before 12am.
In this situation, it is requested to issue instructions to various local government institutions including the city corporation to implement the activities related to the removal of campaign materials at the stipulated time.
According to the schedule announced by the EC, the last date for filing nomination papers for Gazipur city election is April 27. The last day for filing nomination papers for Khulna and Barisal city elections is May 16 and the last day for filing nomination papers for Rajshahi and Sylhet city elections is May 23.
