LOCAL ELECTIONS ON PARTISAN BASIS : Only mayor, chairman candidates to contest with party symbols

Stepping back from its previous decision, the government has now decided not to allow councilor and member candidates to contest local body polls with party symbols.
Only mayoral candidates in City Corporation and municipality polls and chairman candidates in Upazila Parishad and Union Parishad polls will get party symbols, according to the latest decision.
The government in last month had decided to hold entire elections to the local government bodies that also include Zila Parishad on party lines.
LGRD and cooperatives minister Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain on Sunday placed the Local Government (Municipality) (Amendment) Bill, 2015 incorporating the latest changes.
The bill was sent to the parliamentary standing committee, which was asked to return the draft to the House within three days after scrutiny.
On October 12, the cabinet endorsed draft amendments to all the five local government laws incorporating provisions for allowing registered political parties to nominate their candidates in the local body polls.
‘We have decided to change the ordinance on Pourashava so that only mayoral candidates could contest the polls with party symbols,’ Mosharraf told reporters earlier on the day at the secretariat.
He hoped that the amendment would be passed by parliament on November 18 to facilitate holding of the municipality elections by December 30.
Similar changes would be brought to the drafts already endorsed by the cabinet to amend the laws relating to City Corporation, District Council, Upazila Parishad and Union Parishad, the minister added.
‘We have politically decided to bring further changes to the local government laws for convenience in holding the elections and also for ensuring discipline at the grass-roots level,’ he said replying to a question.
A cabinet member said the bill incorporating latest changes in the municipal laws was placed in parliament hurriedly as the elections to around 240 municipalities out of 324 were due to be held by December 30.
The cabinet earlier on November 9 approved a proposal for turning the Local Government (Municipality) (Amendment) Ordinance 2015 into an Act of parliament allowing registered political parties to nominate their candidates in the local body polls.
Ruling Awami League leaders said that the latest changes were made as they thought it would be very difficult for the party to nominate their candidates at the grassroots and suggested not to allow the party symbols for the ward councilor candidates in municipality polls.

- See more at: http://newagebd.net/175789/local-elections-on-partisan-basis-only-mayor-chairman-candidates-to-contest-with-party-symbols/#sthash.hvsde4r8.dpuf