3 city polls on April 28.

Elections to the two Dhaka city corporations and Chittagong city corporation will be held on April 28 amid political stalemate, according to fresh schedules announced on Wednesday. The chief election commissioner, Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, announced the schedules and hoped that all political parties would put their candidates though the elections were officially non-partisan. Among the major political parties, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which has enforced a nonstop blockade since January 6 to press for fresh national elections under a caretaker government, is yet to decide whether it would contest the city polls. If all major parties join the races, the three city polls are expected to witness fierce battles of ballot. According to the polls schedules, the last date for filing nomination papers is March 29 while the papers will be scrutinised on April 1 and 2. The last date for withdrawal of nomination is April 9. Aspirants will collect nomination forms from today from the offices of respective returning officers. Some aspirants, mostly ruling party leaders, have already started campaigns occupying roadside hoardings after the ruling Awami League on February 26 named Annisul Huq and Sayeed Khokon as its mayoral candidates respectively in the Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation polls. Around 60 lakh voters will exercise their franchise to elect three mayors for Dhaka North city, Dhaka South city and Chittagong city, and 134 councillors for general wards and 45 wards reserved for women in the three cities.

The CEC urged the aspirant candidates to remove campaign material, particularly hoardings, in two days and warned that the EC would take action in cases of violation of the electoral laws. The CEC said that security would be beefed up across the country following the announcement of the election schedules to prevent troubles. ‘Though law enforcement agencies said that the law and order has been improving, there might be hit-and-run attacks.’ Asked whether the EC would go for deployment of army troops in the elections, Rakibuddin said the EC would take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of voters. The commission will not use electronic voting machines in the three city polls. The CEC announced the fresh schedules a month after prime minister Sheikh Hasina asked the authorities concerned to go for immediate elections to the three cities and two days after the police chief proposed holding of the three city polls by April 30. The election commission earlier took move at least three times and announced schedule in 2012 for the then undivided Dhaka city polls, but it could not be held due to legal complexities. The last DCC election was held on April 25, 2002 and the next election was due in 2007. On November 29, 2011, the government split the Dhaka City Corporation into two – DSCC and DNCC and BNP leader Sadeque Hossain Khoka resigned from the mayoral duties on the day.

The EC has appointed Mihir Sarwar Murshed as the returning officer for Dhaka South city, Md Shah Alam for Dhaka North city and Md Abdul Baten for Chittagong city corporation elections. Political analysts and insiders of both ruling and opposition parties said that the government has chosen the time for the city polls to divert people’s attention from the ongoing anti-government movement. Most of the leaders of BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami are either in jail or have gone into hiding to avoid police harassment. In April 2010, the previous EC headed by ATM Shamsul Huda moved to hold the DCC polls in May that year. But the AL-led government did not agree as the government reportedly was worried over water and power crises in summer and was not sure about winning the polls. The incumbent election commission in April 2012 had announced that the polls would be held on May 24, 2012 but a writ petition challenging the polls schedule led to postponement of the elections. Elections to nine city corporations have been held so far in the two consecutive tenures of the present government. AL-backed mayoral candidates were defeated in all these elections with the exception of the Rangpur City Corporation polls. In June 2013, BNP-backed mayoral candidates scored  resounding victories in elections to the four city corporations – Rajshahi, Barisal, Sylhet and Khulna –  defeating their ruling Awami League-supported rivals, in a high-voltage but peaceful battle of ballots before January 5, 2014 general elections which was boycotted by BNP and all opposition parties. According to the electoral code of conduct, the candidates would not be able to start electioneering before polls symbols were distributed, said the CEC. At the briefing, EC secretary Md Sirazul Islam, election commissioners Mohammad Abdul Mobarak and Md Shah Nawaz were present at the briefing.

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