The mercury is rising again in Bangladesh politics in the run-up to the Union Parishad (UP) elections.
The UP polls will be held for the first time on party lines.
After the UP poll schedule was announced on Thursday, the two major parties—Awami League and the BNP—have asked their grassroots committees to start choosing candidates who are acceptable and can win.
A political party cannot nominate more than one candidate in the elections to Union Parishads (UPs), the lowest tier of the local government.
The BNP, which had boycotted the last parliamentary polls, participated in the municipal election in December and January, making it vibrant.
Despite allegations of widespread irregularities in the recent polls, the BNP has said it will contest the UP elections.
Election Commission (EC) officials think UP polls are the most vibrant of all the local government elections since representatives are chosen by relatively small groups of people.
Though 20 of the 40 parties registered with the EC took part in the last municipal polls, also held on party lines for the first time, the number is expected to rise in the UP elections.
The EC has already written to all 40 parties asking them to submit the details of their candidates, said Ashfaqur Rahman, assistant secretary of the commission.
Grassroots’ opinion first
The AL has already asked its grassroots to form election boards to nominate single candidates in each municipality that will go to elections.
The six-member boards will comprise of the presidents and the general secretaries of the party’s district, Upazila and Union Parishad chapters, according to a circular signed by AL Office Secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap.
The boards have been asked to send the names of their nominees to the party chief’s Dhanmondi office in Dhaka by Feb 15.
The AL central command will then have to approve the nominations, a decision made at a meeting of the party’s local government election nomination board, headed by AL chief Sheikh Hasina.
The BNP on the other hand has vested the authority to pick candidates on the presidents, general secretaries and the organising secretaries of its UP chapters, and the presidents and the general secretaries of the Upazila units concerned.
These five-strong committees would then send the names to the party high command, BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said on Friday.
He, however, did not say who would finally approve the nominees.
Directives to remove campaign tools
EC Deputy Secretary Shamsul Alam has said, “All the campaign material used by candidate-aspirants in the areas to go to polls will have to be removed by Feb 14.”
“Otherwise legal actions will be taken against them if they submit nominations or become candidates,” he told bdnews24.com on Friday.
According to the polls schedule, 752 of around 4,500 UPs will go to elections on Mar 22. Feb 22 is the last date for filing nominations and Mar 2 for withdrawing candidature. Election symbols will be allocated on Mar 3.
Unlike in other elections, the EC does not have the authority to cancel candidacies for violating the poll code in the UP elections. Awarding six months’ imprisonment and Tk 10,000 fine to the offenders and their parties is all it can do.
Easier conditions for nomination
An aspirant would not have to submit wealth statement or tax identification number in this elections, unlike other polls, said Shamsul Alam.
There is no condition for independent candidates but the party-backed ones will need their party’s approval, according to the EC deputy secretary.
On the compulsory conditions, he said nominations would be cancelled if an aspirant is found to be a loan defaulter or a UP contractor. They also must have spent five years after serving a jail term.
They will need signatures of unique proposers and supporters and a person cannot seek candidacies in more than one area, he added.
A chairman candidate can spend maximum Tk 500,000 and a UP member aspirant Tk 100,000 for the elections.
‘Lobbying on’
The UP polls have taken the centre stage in discussions at rural gatherings,bdnews24.com has learnt through its local correspondents.
Cox’s Bazar correspondent Shankar Barua reports that 19 UPs of four Upazilas will go to elections in the first phase. Nomination aspirants have started wooing voters and the party high-ups.
“Many have switched parties to become a candidate … Intra-party lobbying is going on. Voters are observing all these,” said a chairman candidate there, wishing anonymity.
In Bogra, local lawmakers and district- and Upazila-level political leaders are busy dealing with lobbying by nomination seekers in 13 UPs of two Upazilas where polls are due on Mar 22.
Many of the aspirants are planning to contest the elections independently if they do not get the party endorsement, reports our Bogra correspondent Zia Shaheen.
Source: bdnews24
