A Supreme Court deadline for holding upazila parishad polls ended yesterday and the government will seek extension of the deadline for the 18th time.

The decision on whether the local government system would remain or not also remains hanging.

The Local Government Division of the Local Government and Rural Development and Cooperatives Ministry has so far sought time on 17

occasions in the last 11 years to hold the polls. There is a directive from the Supreme Court to hold the elections.

Officials said the law office of the government is expected to appear before the court tomorrow to seek time.

The upazila system was revived on February 1, 1999, but no direct balloting was held to elect chairmen to the bodies across the country.

Officials said there are some 753 public servants, including 17 class

one officers, under each upazila parishad, but the absence of an elected chairman is hobbling its activities.

The government has been seeking time since the full bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court headed by the then chief justice Shahabuddin Ahmed gave verdict in 1992 for holding election to the bodies in line with Article 59 of the Constitution.

Upazila parishad, one of the vital

SEE PAGE 11 COL 3 Upazila elections

FROM PAGE 1

tiers of the local government, was first introduced during the HM Ershad regime and first election to the 460 upazila parishad were held in May 1985.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) taking office in 1991 scraped the Upazila Parishad Act on September 18, 1991.

Although both the BNP and Awami League (AL) opposed the upazila system and built up a movement against the polls under the Ershad regime, they relaised its importance later.

The AL after taking office in 1996 revived the Upazila Parishad Act on November 25, 1998 and attempted to hold the polls in a hurry. But the BNP again opposed the polls, stalling the election.

The BNP in its last election manifesto pledged to hold the upazila polls and formed a five-member high-powered cabinet committee on November 19, 2001, to review the revival of the system as well as holding of the polls.

The committee after holding a series of meetings brought some amendments to the law inserting new provisions to avoid conflicts between the upazila chairmen and lawmakers and submitted the bill twice for cabinet approval.

But the cabinet sat on the bill as a sharp divide appeared between the pro-and anti-upazila camps. The last meeting gave the prime minister full authority to decide on the issue.