DCC polls not possible in Jan: CEC

UNB, Dhaka :Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad on Tuesday said it is not possible to arrange polls to bifurcated Dhaka City Corporation in January next.”Why should I hold election in January? We’ll need more time to take our preparations. Time is needed to print (updated) electoral rolls and declare the election schedule,” he told a press conference at the Election Commission media centre.The CEC came up with the reaction a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Monday’s cabinet meeting reportedly asked the authorities concerned to arrange the overdue elections to the bifurcated DCC in this winter.The cabinet meeting also sent back a proposal that sought extension of the tenure of the administrators of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) to one year from six months.The CEC said he came to know from newspaper reports that the DCC elections will be held in January. “Now the process of updating the voter list is going on. If we want to arrange the election now, we’ll have to use old voter list. If so, five lakh fresh voters will be deprived of voting rights in the election,” he said.As per the law, the commission shall finalise updated voter list on January 31 every year.Kazi Rakibuddin said the commission has to consider the public examinations-SSC and HSC-as well during the announcement of the election schedule. “We avoid elections during the public examinations.”He, however, said if the demarcation complexity of the city corporations is gone, the commission will initiate the process to arrange the polls soon.