AHMED DEEPTO, MAMUNUR RASHID and SHAMIMA RITA

The government is preparing to hold elections to local government bodies in phases, beginning this September-October and continuing into early next year.

“The elections are likely to begin after the monsoon, around September or October,” LGRD State Minister Mir Shahe Alam told journalists in Bogura yesterday.

Citing an earlier statement by LGRD Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, he said polls to all five tiers of local government -- union parishad, municipality, upazila parishad, zila parishad and city corporation -- would be completed within next year.

He added that funding for the elections will be included in the upcoming budget, set to be presented in parliament this June.

Contacted, Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud said the commission has yet to receive any formal communication from the government. “However, we intend to complete preparations by June so as to be ready whenever the government approaches us with a schedule.”

Bangladesh currently has 13 city corporations, 495 upazila parishads, 61 zila parishads, 330 municipalities and 4,599 union parishads.

Most of these institutions have been functioning without elected representatives since the fall of the Awami League government following the mass uprising in July 2024.

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