Ruling Awami League, Workers Party of Bangladesh and the BNP will officially meet the chief election commissioner to press home their respective demands on the upcoming municipality polls, leaders of the parties said.
During the meeting, the AL will propose allowing its lawmakers to take part in electioneering while the WPB, a key component of the AL-led 14-party alliance, and the BNP will press for deferring the polls by at least two weeks.
The AL and the BNP will separately meet CEC Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad today and the WPB tomorrow to place their proposals, said party leaders.
In the country’s first local government polls on partisan lines, elections to 236 municipalities will be held on December 30.
ABM Reazul Kabir Kawsar, assistant secretary of AL central sub-committee, said, “A delegation of our party [AL] will meet the CEC tomorrow [Sunday] to discuss the issue of electoral campaign by MPs.”
Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, AL organising secretary and a lawmaker, told The Daily Star, “Lawmakers should be allowed to electioneer as the polls will be held on partisan lines. If we are barred from campaigning, we will be deprived of the opportunity to engage with people more closely.”
As per the electoral code of conduct, the prime minister, the speaker, ministers, MPs, opposition leaders in parliament, and other VIPs enjoying government facilities are not allowed to electioneer.
According to party insiders, both the WPB and the BNP need more time as their activists at grassroots level are yet to complete their preparation for contesting the polls.
WPB President Rashed Khan Menon said his party needed at least two weeks more to complete its preparation.
Some components of the BNP-led 20-party alliance were yet to submit lists of their prospective candidates to the party’s Naya Paltan central office. BNP sources mentioned this as one of the reasons behind their demand for pushing back the election date.
“We could not finalise the list of candidates of mayoral aspirants for all the 234 municipalities as some components of the 20-party alliance have not yet submitted names of their prospective candidates. We hope they will submit it today,” a BNP assistant office secretary told The Daily Star yesterday.
“After getting lists from all the components, the final list will be prepared on consultation with the madam [Khaleda],” a BNP central leader told this correspondent.
Meanwhile, the AL, the BNP and the Jatiya Party have already decided on who will pick the mayoral aspirants for each party.
The AL’s mayoral aspirants will be selected by party chief Sheikh Hasina, the BNP’s aspirants by party joint secretary general Mohammad Shajahan and Jatiya Party’s candidates by party chief HM Ershad.
The parties informed the EC of this through separate letters yesterday.
As per the rule, political parties willing to contest the polls will send a letter to returning officers mentioning the names of party-authorised persons who will pick the candidates within five days of announcing the poling schedule. Copies of the letter will have to be sent to the EC too.
The EC on November 24 announced polls schedule. A day later, the EC issued letters to all the 40 registered political parties with directives to comply with the rules.
Source: The Daily Star
