Ehsanul Haque Jasim :The Cabinet has approved the drafts seeking amendments to four laws and one ordinance, paving the way for holding elections to the local government bodies on party basis. The regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet on Monday cleared the drafts for amendment to election laws for Union, Upazila and Zilla Parishads and the city corporations. The ordinance will be formulated for the polls in municipalities. The meeting was held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.After the meeting, the Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan at a briefing told reporters that the laws would allow registered political parties to nominate candidates in the local body elections. “After the amendments to the laws are passed, the local body elections like Zila, Upazila and Union Parishads and the city corporations will be held like the national elections. The candidates can contest the polls under party banners and symbols. The interested candidates will also be able to participate in the local body elections as independent candidates,” he said.The laws, proposed to be amended, are: ‘Local Government (Union Parishad) (amendment) Bill, 2015’, ‘Upazila Parishad (amendment) Bill, 2015’, ‘Zila Parishad (amendment) Bill, 2015′, and Local Government (City Corporation) (amendment) Bill, 2015’. Drafts of the amended laws would be placed in Parliament for enactment, said Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan. The Cabinet Secretary said the day’s meeting, however, decided to frame the draft of the ‘Local Government (Pourashava) (amendment), Bill, 2015′ as an ordinance since Parliament is not in session now while the next countywide Pourashava (municipality) elections would be held by December next. He said major changes brought through the amendments are on definition of a political party and independent candidate, eligibility of the chairman and member candidates and responsibility of the Election Commission in conducting the local government body polls of Union Parishads. The independent candidates will have to present a list of voters constituting one percent of the electorate to back up their nominations. Besides, in the case of election to the Zila Parishad Chairman, amendments have been made in the draft allowing Upazila Vice Chairman and Upazila Female Vice Chairman as voters or members of the electoral college alongside Upazila Chairmen and other members of the respective elected local government bodies.On completion of the five-year tenure of a local government elected body, the government will appoint an Administrator if the election could not be held in time for any reason, Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said, adding that such a provision is currently in place for city corporations. “The interim administrators can only be changed by the government,” he said. The draft four laws are likely to be placed in the next session of the 10th Parliament. These are subjected to the vetting of the Law Ministry before placing in the Parliament. The UP elections are likely to be held in 2016 after passage of the amended laws in the Parliament. According to the sources, the EC is now making preparations to hold the UP polls across the country from March.The Jamaat-e-Islami may not be able to contest the local body polls, as its registration with the EC has been scrapped by the High Court. The matter is now pending with the Supreme Court. The LGRD Ministry placed the local government laws and the ordinance in the Cabinet meeting for approval. Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said that the ministry came up with the proposal of amendments from the perspective of empowerment as well as development of political and democratic culture. In developed democracies like the UK, India and the USA, local government polls are held on partisan basis, he said. LGRD Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said that the amendment to the laws would further strengthen the democratic system. Elections to the local government bodies are non-partisan according to the existing laws, but in reality these are held in a partisan manner, he said. The BNP, however, opposed the government move, terming it a conspiracy. The party expressed surprise over the Cabinet’s approval to the proposed drafts and urged the government not to go for the amendment.The party alleged that the government is trying to keep the opposition parties out of politics and election by arranging local polls on party basis. “We are surprised as the proposals for holding all the local government polls under party banner has been approved by the Cabinet. We have earlier opposed the government’s such plan and demanded taking opinions of all concerned as it’s a very important issue,” said Dr Asaduzzaman Ripon, BNP’s International Affairs Secretary and the party’s current spokesman. He said that the move is a blue-print of the government to divert public attention from the demand for holding national elections. In the current political context of Bangladesh, the local body election under the party banner is unrealistic, he said. “The government is suspending pro-BNP mayors and Upazila chairmen one by one from the local government’s bodies and posting own men in those areas. If the local body election is held with the party symbols, the government’s influence will increase further on the local government bodies,” said the BNP leader. The AL leaders, however, believe that if political parties are allowed to participate in local body elections, the elected representatives will implement their parties’ political commitments. This will encourage them to act more responsibly and to be more active in providing services. Besides, the local body elections will help the party minimize intra-party conflicts and reduce the number of rebel candidates during polls. Since 2009, the AL couldn’t achieve desired success in local body polls because of its rebel candidates. This was the case also in the upazila elections held between February and March last year.
