The Election Commission (EC) has informed the government that around Tk6,000 crore may be required to complete five local government elections, State Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam said on Wednesday.
He made the comments while speaking to journalists at the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives.
Mir Shahe Alam said: “The Election Commission has given a possible budget of Tk 6,000 crore to complete these five elections. We have made arrangements so that we can roughly provide this amount. It may be more or less, as they have given us a possible estimate.”
He said around Tk 2,700 crore to Tk 2,800 crore would be required for Union Parishad elections, while Upazila elections would require Tk 2,200 crore to Tk 2,300 crore.
“These two elections account for the major expenditure, while the cost of the remaining municipality and city corporation elections is much lower,” he said.
Asked whether the elections would be held this year, the state minister said: “The way the Election Commission has spoken, it does not seem to me that the elections will be held this year. Since they have set 6 June as the deadline, it seems the commission is deciding to start the elections from next year.”
He said the secretary committee had held a meeting and taken an initial decision.
“They will hold another meeting. They will take the final decision at another meeting at the end of this month or in the first week of October. Our representatives will be there,” he said.
Regarding the government’s expectations, Mir Shahe Alam said: “We want them to complete the elections within this fiscal year. I will not say when they should start. They will decide the beginning.”
“If I specify when it should start, it would be embarrassing for the Election Commission, because they will conduct the election,” he said.
