DNC MAYORAL BY-ELECTION EC fears legal complications

Election Commission officials said Tuesday that holding mayoral by-election in Dhaka North City faces legal complications over letting the voters of 18 new wards to cast their votes.
They said these 18 wards were outside Dhaka North City in 2015 when the 1st mayoral election was held.
Mayor Annisul Huq’s death on Thursday, they said, requires holding the by-election.
The laws, said EC officials, show no clear way out
of the situation.
They said that they were also groping in the darkness about whether or not polls should be held to elect councilors for the 18 wards that were included with DNC after the mayoral election.
Since the EC cannot resolve the issues on its own, said its acting secretary Helaluddin Ahmed, it would sit with the local government division as it has greater say on issues relating to local government elections.
He said that he would expect that the meeting would take place ‘soon’.
The legal complications cropped up due to decisions of short sighted policy makers, said Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary of Shushanar Jannya Nagorik, in short SUJAN.
He said that the EC must hold councilor polls in the 18 newly included wards during the mayoral by-election by letting the voters cast their votes to choose a new mayor as well as their councilors.
To sort out the issues, he said, the EC should ask the government to amend the law if needed.
Otherwise, he said, the authorities would face severe criticism for delaying the polls.
On Monday, the EC declared that vacancy occurred in the post of Dhaka North City mayor following Annisul Huq’s death on December 1.
The by-election to fill the vacancy would be held within 90 days as the law requires, said local government and rural development minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain.
Annisul Huq was elected as the 1st mayor of Dhaka North City on April 28, 2015 as ruling Awami League’s candidate.
EC officials told New Age that the new wards were merged with the Dhaka North City earlier this this year.
The new wards were created after merging Badda, Vatara, Satarkul, Beraid, Dumni, Dakshinkhan and Harirampur unions with Dhaka North City.
In 2011, the AL led government created Dhaka North City and Dhaka South City by splitting the historic city of Dhaka. 

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net