UNB, Dhaka :
The Election Commission has decided in principle to arrange elections to Narayanganj and Comilla city corporations on a single day in the third week of December next.
The commission took the decision at a meeting on Monday, a highly placed source at the EC secretariat told UNB wishing not to be named. He, however, said the final decision about the election schedules will be taken next week. “The election schedules for the two city corporations are likely to be announced in early November,” he added. Polls to the two city corporations are going to be held at the fag end of the current commission, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, as its five-year tenure will expire in February next.
The five-year tenure of Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) is set to complete
on December 27 while that of Comilla City Corporation on February 9 next.
The EC has a legal obligation to complete the polls to a city corporation within the last 180 days of its tenure.
With this, any city corporation election is going to be arranged along party line for the first time in the country according to the Local Government (City Corporation) Act 2009, which was amended in November 2015 paving the way for political parties to field candidates alongside independent contestants for the mayoral post.
Earlier, the countrywide municipal and union parishad elections were held along the party line in 2016.
The maiden elections to the two city corporation were held at the fag end of the previous Election Commission, headed by ATM Shamsul Huda. The NCC went to election on October 30, 2011 when Dr Selina Hayat Ivy was elected the country’s first female city mayor defeating Awami League-backed Shamim Osman.
The Election Commission has decided in principle to arrange elections to Narayanganj and Comilla city corporations on a single day in the third week of December next.
The commission took the decision at a meeting on Monday, a highly placed source at the EC secretariat told UNB wishing not to be named. He, however, said the final decision about the election schedules will be taken next week. “The election schedules for the two city corporations are likely to be announced in early November,” he added. Polls to the two city corporations are going to be held at the fag end of the current commission, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, as its five-year tenure will expire in February next.
The five-year tenure of Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) is set to complete
on December 27 while that of Comilla City Corporation on February 9 next.
The EC has a legal obligation to complete the polls to a city corporation within the last 180 days of its tenure.
With this, any city corporation election is going to be arranged along party line for the first time in the country according to the Local Government (City Corporation) Act 2009, which was amended in November 2015 paving the way for political parties to field candidates alongside independent contestants for the mayoral post.
Earlier, the countrywide municipal and union parishad elections were held along the party line in 2016.
The maiden elections to the two city corporation were held at the fag end of the previous Election Commission, headed by ATM Shamsul Huda. The NCC went to election on October 30, 2011 when Dr Selina Hayat Ivy was elected the country’s first female city mayor defeating Awami League-backed Shamim Osman.
