Local Government Reform Commission will propose arranging polls of all local government bodies including city corporations, municipalities, upazilas and union parishads on the same day to reduce poll-related expenditures.
The chairman of the commission, Dr Tofail Ahmed, said this while exchanging views with the stakeholders on making the elections of local bodies fair and acceptable at a city hotel on Sunday afternoon.
“The commission is working to submit its report to the government within the stipulated time in the last week of February 2025,” he said.
“The commission will also make a proposal to allow the government employees to compete in the local body polls,” he said.
Tofail added: “The stakeholders opined for arranging local government polls before the national election and demanded effective measures to keep the polls free from the influence of the parliament members of their constituencies.”
He said that according to the Election Commission, around Tk23,000 crore was spent for holding the local government polls during the previous Awami League government engaging 1.9 million people and consuming 225 days.
“It’s possible to hold the polls with a budget of only Tk500 to Tk600 crore if polls are held on the same day across the country,” he observed.
“The commission will also make recommendations to fix minimum academic qualification of the candidatures, keep a provision of “no vote” and stringent measures to prevent the use of muscle power in the election,” Tofail said.
“The stakeholders suggested changing the existing provision of using party symbols in the local body polls,” he continued.
“Local Government Reform Commission will work in coordination with the Election Reform Commission and Constitution Reform Commission to frame uniform laws to this end,” he added.
