The Election Commission and the local government ministry are at odds over holding the long overdue elections to Dhaka north and south city corporations.
A day after an election commissioner hinted that they were not going to hold the DCC polls right now, the chief election commissioner said they would avoid further legal complications.
Earlier, a writ petition challenging the move to hold DCC polls invited a High Court order that stayed the whole process until recently. The EC took fresh move after another court verdict vacated the stay order earlier this month.
The EC was even thinking about announcing the election schedules. But the move looks set to be stalled again after a request from the local government ministry to keep a union parishad aside for the next polls. The ministry in a letter last week said the newly-included locality should be excluded since it was not yet split into wards, an argument not accepted by the EC.
Election officials said once incorporated into the territory, any rules and privileges of the city corporation will equally apply to that locality. If any citizen challenges, the election process might face another round of legal battle, they feared.
The chief election commissioner made their position clear.
“We do not want to create further legal troubles. We are considering the case of the newly added 13 areas in Sultanganj under the Dhaka South City Corporation and are in discussion with the Local Government Division,” Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said Wednesday.
He hastened to add that the EC was ready to hold the DCC elections, which had already been delayed a year, as soon as possible.
The future of the election became uncertain again after the LGRD ministry sent a letter to the EC for holding the DCC polls, excluding the newly added 13 areas of Sultanganj under Dhaka South City Corporation on Sunday.
In reply, Election Commissioner Md Shah Newaz on Tuesday said the EC would not hold the split DCC polls until demarcation of DCC wards are complete.
CEC’s statement has cleared the EC’s stance over the issue.
Meanwhile, regarding the government’s cordiality over holding the DCC polls, Ahmad claimed local government division’s letter is proof of the government’s clear intentions of holding the election.
