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Half of UZ poll budget sought for security

Army may be deployed as more political parties oppose govt decision

SHAKHAWAT LITON
The Election Commission (EC) Secretariat has proposed that Tk 100 crore, over half of the estimated total cost for upazila elections, be spent to ensure foolproof security.
Of the amount. Tk 50 crore has been asked for the army and the rest for the law enforcement agencies. said EC sources, citing the draft budget for the polls.
This would be the highest security expenditure on record for any election in Bangladesh, a senior EC official said.
The EC is working to start holding upazila polls in October amid the political parties' opposition to any other polls before the national election planned for December.
In the budget drawn up by the
commission secretariat, around Tk 100 crore has been set aside to meet the other expenses for organising polls to 482 upazila parishads.
"On getting die commission's okay, we will send the budget to the finance ministry for disbursement," an EC Secretariat official said.
The funds for security measures will be given out to the armed forces and the law enforcement agencies while those to cover the other costs will be paid out directly to the EC, he added.
With an allocation proposed for the army, it is now quite obvious that the forces will be deployed to maintain law and order during upazila polls, observed senior officials at the EC Secretariat.
The draft rules for upazila elections give the forces on election
duty the power to arrest anyone without warrant for violation of electoral rules.
Meanwhile, the EC meets tomorrow to settle on the number of upazila parishads going to polls in the first phase.
To hold the elections in October, it will have to announce the schedule by the middle of next month, said sources.
At the meeting, the commission might also set a time limit for registration of the political parties.
Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain yesterday told The Daily Star that they would discuss the upazila election issue at tomorrow's meeting.
Asked if they would press on with efforts to hold polls to over 300 upazila parishads in October brav-
ing resistance from the political parties, he said they still stand by their plans.
Political parties including Awami League (AL) and BNP argue that holding the local polls first would delay further the parliamen tary election tentatively slated for the third week of December.
PARTY REGISTRATION
About registration of the political parties, Sohul said the commission would discuss the issue tomorrow.
Citing time constraints, he said they will have to begin the registrationprocesssoon.
Sources said the commission aims to complete registration by October.
According to the electoral roadmap announced in July last year, new electoral laws were supposed to come into force by February and the political parties to register with the EC by June this year.
The EC will have to announce schedule by early November to hold the long-stalled parliamentary election in December.
As per the roadmap, the parties were to get four months to prepare for registration. But they now have barely two months (September-October) as only recently the commission had the new electoral provisions in the Registration of People Order (RPO).
All major political parties will have to revise their constitutions and elect new committees through national councils to fulfil the crite-rialaid down for registration. As per the amended RPO, they will have to sever ties with their front organisations and do away with chapters abroad.
The parties say it's not possible to hold national council and do the tasks in such a short period of time.
Officials at the commission secretariat however say the EC would need two weeks to examine the documents to be submitted by the parities applying for registration.