PM wants immediate steps for Dhaka mayoral polls AL to back former FBCCI president Annisul as DNCC mayor ,

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday once again asked the LGRD and cooperatives ministry to take steps to hold the long overdue mayoral polls in Dhaka north and south without further delay. Chairing the weekly cabinet meeting at the secretariat, she disclosed the name of former Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries president Annisul Huq as ruling Awami League’s candidate for the Dhaka North City Corporation mayor post, said a minister preferring anonymity. ‘The prime minister has insisted on holding the DCC mayoral elections as early as possible and informed the cabinet that Awami League would back former FBCCI president Annisul Huq for the Dhaka North City mayoral polls,’ the minister told New Age.

About the mayoral candidate for Dhaka South City Corporation, Hasina said the AL was yet to decide on it. LGRD and cooperatives minister Syed Ashraful Islam said there was no obstacle now to holding the mayoral polls due since 2007. Asked to comment on his possible candidature, Annisul averted any response. In November 2011, the government divided the Dhaka city administration and created two city corporations to replace Dhaka City Corporation, after removing the last elected mayor of Dhaka Sadeque Hossain, a senior Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader. The government had to amend the law which did not allow the removal of elected mayors. The amended law required holding the polls for electing two mayors in 90 days. But the tenures of appointed administrators of DSCC and DNCC were extended several times by amending the law, only to put off the elections.

On December 8, 2014 the prime minister turned down a local government division proposal to extend the tenures of government appointed administrators once again, and asked the LGRD minister for steps to hold the much-awaited DCC polls in the current winter. Later on January 25, the Election Commission sought Tk45 crore from the finance ministry in addition to Tk 50 crore allocated earlier, for holding the DNCC and DSCC elections by June this year. Even after the High Court paved the way for holding the city polls, neither the government nor the Election Commission took any visible initiative to hold the long overdue polls in the divided city. The last DCC election was held on April 25, 2002.

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