In the wake of five city corporation elections, which generated much interest among voters, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said from now on local body elections should have political party affiliations.
“From now on, I think local body elections should be held on a party basis,” she said.
The prime minister was speaking at the inauguration programme of 88 AC buses bought under the Indian one-billion dollar credit line at her official residence Gano Bhaban in the morning, reports UNB.
Elections in four city corporations – Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal – were held on June 15, and new city corporation Gazipur had its maiden poll on July 6.
Though non-partisan in nature, both the ruling and the opposition camps unofficially extended support to their own candidates in the elections, and opposition-backed candidates came out winners in all polls.
The prime minister said although the local government elections are non-partisan inn nature, at the end of the day the mood does not remain non-partisan. "If these elections are held in a partisan way, there will be discipline in the polls," she noted.
In this connection, Hasina mentioned that in the United Kingdom and other countries around the world, elections are sometimes held in a partisan manner.
Describing the reasons behind the defeat of the ruling alliance-backed candidates in all city corporation elections, Hasina said some people have said national issues were behind the defeat. “How the country could have seen so much of development if there had been corruption?” she asked.
Saying the ruling party-backed candidates in Barisal, Khulna, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Gazipur were clean, she said none could raise questions about them. "Those who are honest got defeated in the elections, and the corrupt ones with underground links have won," she said.
Hasina further asked: “If the corrupt and terrorists keep on winning elections, what would be the justification for development in the country?”
She went on: “What are the national issues? Book distribution, community healthcare clinic, education trust fund and the like. Had the government had money it would have made education free for all.”
Hasina asked, had there been no good governance in the country, how its foreign currency reserve had reached $15bn, and how had it achieved more than 6% GDP growth.
She also said the government is putting its best efforts to keep the wheel of the economy running, defying all destructive politics by the opposition party.
Describing the government's hectic efforts to restore discipline in the economic sector of the country, Hasina said the government had detected the irregularities, like that of Hallmark and Destiny Group.
"Now it looks like we have turned thieves as we have caught the thieves," she said.
