EC to hold upazila polls in March

The Election Commission has begun preparations to hold upazila council elections in March, reports bdnews24.com.

The elections have to be held then because the SSC examinations were scheduled for February and HSC examinations were in April, said EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed at the Election Commission offices Wednesday.

"This is why we are aiming to hold the upazila elections in March. We will proceed according to the decisions of the honourable commission."

According to the law, elections must be held in the six months before the upazila council end their terms.

EC officials say, the election schedule has to be announced in January or February for the elections to be conducted in March.

The Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed commission had announced the schedule for the upazila council elections on January 19, 2014, only a few days after the 10th national parliamentary elections on January 5 of that year.

The elections for in over 487 upazilas were held in six phases between February 19 and May, 2014. Parties had not been able to run candidates in the 2014 upazila polls, but will be able to do so this time.

An EC official said that the commission plans to hold elections for any upazila council positions that end their terms in July by the end of March.

Those upazila positions whose terms end after July will have elections at a later convenient date, they added.