UZ chairmen, poura mayors can join

Ehsanul Haque Jasim :The Election Commission (EC) has added some new provisions into the electoral code of conduct for the upcoming Union Parishad (UP) polls. The EC framed the fresh electron code following recent amendment to the ‘Local Government (UP) Act’ to hold the election under party-banner. According to the new electoral code of conduct, upazila chairmen and municipal mayors can join the election campaign in the UP polls. The rules for the independent candidates have also been relaxed, as they will not have to provide any list of voters supporting their nominations.The EC at its meeting on Tuesday finalised the electoral code of conduct for the UP polls. The code of conduct now will be sent to the law ministry for vetting, Election Commissioner Mohammad Shahnewaz told media after the meeting. He said that it would not be wise to keep the upazila chairmen and the municipal mayors out from the election campaign, as they are the grassroots leaders of the political parties. The upazila chairmen and the municipal mayors, however, can’t exercise the government facilities if they take part in the election campaign. Shahnewaz also said that the electoral code and the election rules for the UP polls have similarity with the election code and the rules of the municipal polls. The MPs will not be able to take part  in the election campaign for UP polls like the municipal polls, he said. However, the candidates will not have to provide affidavit and Tax Identification Number (TIN) with their nominations although these were mandatory in the recently held municipal polls. The Election Commissioner said that the UP polls schedule would be declared after vetting of the electoral code of conduct. The gazette notification will be published soon after the vetting. Elections to around 600 Union Parishads out of 4,500 UPs will be held in March in the first phase. The EC is taking preparation to declare the polls schedule in mid-February. The elections to the other Union Parishads will be held in phase by phase by July. The party candidates contesting for the Chairman post will only use the party symbol, but the member candidates can’t do it. Parties can spend Tk 30,000 in each Union for campaign purposes. Parties will be penalised with a maximum fine of Tk 500,000 for violation of the electoral code.EC Secretary Md Sirajul Islam told The New Nation that the EC scrapped the condition of adding voter list for the independent candidates in favour of their support because of the ground reality. The fake supporters are often named in lists, while nomination papers are rejected because of procedural flaws in some. Many of the initially disqualified candidates regain their candidature by appealing against such rejection, he said. In the municipal polls, an independent candidate needed support of 100 voters with their signatures. In case of parliamentary polls, the number of such signatories, according to the Representation of the People Order (RPO), has to be 1 percent of the total voters in a constituency.Sirajul Islam said that even if only a few signatures are sought from each independent candidate in about 4,500 UPs, it will be difficult for the EC to verify all of them, as two days are not enough to scrutinise the nominations. Under the existing circumstances, it would not be right to keep the condition in place, said the EC Secretary.