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JS, upazila polls might be held on same day

If not possible, upazila polls to take place first

Staff Correspondent
The long due polls to the upazila parishads will be held either simultaneously with the ninth parliamentary elections or before it, the election commissioners said yesterday.
Election Commissioners Muhammed Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain told this to reporters at the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat.
They also responded to queries on electoral law reforms and failure to hold the parliamentary polls within the 90 days timeframe.
The EC will examine the feasibility of upazila polls as the commission now has the power to announce the schedule for it, Election Commissioner Sakhawat said.
"We will examine if it is possible
to hold the upazila elections simultaneously with the parliamentary polls. If not, we will go for holding the polls to die upazila parishads before the parliamentary elections," he added.
Election Commissioner Sohul echoed him.
The caretaker government on Sunday approved a proposal to return die power of announcing the schedule for upazila polls to die EC.
In its electoral roadmap announced on July 15,2007, the EC announced that the polls to the upazila parishads would be held in between November and December this year while die stalled parliamentary polls to be held before the end of December 2008.
Since its introduction, die first election to the upazila parishads was held in 1985 and die second one in 1990.
After assuming power in 1991,
the then BNP government scrapped the system, but it was reestablished in 1998 by the then Awaml League government. However, the polls were not held.
About the failure to hold the ninth parliamentary polls within the timeframe since dissolution of the last parliament, the election commissioners claimed that the constitutional provisions for holding polls in 90 days were not violated.
"Question does not arise regarding our failure for not holding the election within 90 days. The prevailing situation in the country must be taken into account. It also needs to be considered why the Elecdon Commission was reconstituted and the current caretaker government assumed office," Elecdon CommissionerSohul said.
Referring to the High Court directives on March 27, 2007 that asked the EC to prepare a fresh voter list using new system and bring reforms to electoral laws, Election Commissioner Sakhawat said the EC announced its electoral roadmap on the basis of the court directives. "The court suspended the issue for holding the polls within90days timeframe," hesaid.
About a recent High Court rule asking the EC and the caretaker government to explain why it will not be directed to hold the polls within the next 90 days, both the election commissioners said that they saw it in the newspapers, but did not receive any copy from the court.