Although the public administration reform commission recommended annulment of Zila Parishad, the local government reform commission has made a different stance. The latter recommended strengthening this local government body and holding Zila Parishad elections through direct vote. The local government reform commission recommends making the Zila Parishad a ‘planning unit’ while upazila and union parishads ‘implementation unit’.
The local government reform commission submitted a summary of its recommendations to the interim government on Wednesday. A total of 210 recommendations have been made in 14 fields. However, the summary has not been officially published yet. It will be published after the full report is prepared.
The interim government formed 11 reform commissions in two phases to put forth reform proposals in various sectors. Of these, six reform commissions formed in the first phase have published their full reports.
The local government reform commissions formed in the second phase have submitted a summary of their recommendations to the government.
The Zila Parishad is one five tiers of the local government. However, the effectiveness of Zila Parishad in the existing system is questionable. For a long time, the Zila Parishads were mainly led by deprived and elderly leaders of the Awami League. For that, Zila Parishad is also known as rehabilitation centers for elderly and deprived leaders.
The Zila Parishad act was passed in 2000. The Awami League government appointed administrators in 61 districts except three Hill districts for the first time on 15 December in 2011. Aged and deprived leaders of Awami League and its associate organisations were mainly appointed as administrators at that time. Two more elections to the Zila Parishad were held in 2016 and 2022.
As per the existing law, Zila Parishad representatives are not elected through direct vote. The elected members of the upazila, pourashava and union parishad of the concerned district elect the representatives of Zila Parishad. If there is a city corporation in a district, then the elected representatives of that city corporation are also considered as voters in the Zila Parishad elections.
According to the local government reform commission sources, the report has proposed conducting direct vote for electing the members of the Zila Parishad. However, there will be no direct vote for the post of chairman of the Zila Parishad and chairman of the upazila, union parishad and mayor of the city corporation and pourashava. The members of the parishad (members, councilors) elected through direct vote will vote and elect one of them as chairman or mayor.
The reform commission proposes that the members of the Zila Parishad will be elected in direct vote. An upazila will be divided in 3 to 5 wards. Big upazilas will have five wards while rest will have three. A district consisting of 10 upazilas will have a minimum of 30 members. These members will be elected through direct vote of people. These 30 members will elect one chairman among them.
The reform commission proposed the Zila Parishad to be made a ‘planning unit’ to strengthen this tier of the local government. They will make plans in coordination with national planning. The allocations made at the district level in various sectors will go to the Zila Parishad fund which it will distribute. There will be six specialised ‘groups’ in the Zila Parishad, including education, health, agriculture and rural development. They will work to formulate plans. The upazila parishad and union parishad will implement these plans.
Recommendation for simultaneous elections
Union Parishad, Pourashava, Upazila Parishad, Zila Parishad and City Corporation are five types of local government bodies in the country. Currently, elections are held separately in these institutions.
The local government reform commission has recommended holding elections for all types of local government bodies in the same area on one day. This will reduce election expenses. The commission says that these elections can be held in different areas of the country in phases. However, elections to all local government bodies in a given area will be held simultaneously so that a voter can vote for electing representatives of two or three local government bodies at once.
Meanwhile the public administration reform commission recommended for annulment of Zila Parishad. It recommended that the resources of Zila Parishad can be transferred to the proposed provincial governments. The reform commission has recommended dividing the country’s four old divisions into four provinces. The commission is in favor of dividing the country into four provinces – Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi and Khulna – as part of decentralisation.
Professor Tofail Ahmed, head of the local government reform commission, does not support dividing the country into four provinces. He told Prothom Alo that they have recommended strengthening the Zila Parishad.
Professor Tofail Ahmed said that the National Consensus Commission has started working. Therefore, they have given the major recommendations to the government. They will submit the full report of the local government reform commission later.