EC seeks to bar MPO teachers, dual citizens from local polls

FE Team | Published: July 22, 2026 00:39:40

The Election Commission (EC) has finalised a set of recommendations proposing amendments to local government laws to disqualify MPO-listed teachers, dual citizens and holders of offices of profit from contesting local government elections, report agencies .
The proposals also seek to bar loan defaulters and guarantors, as well as utility bill defaulters, from contesting local body polls. In addition, they recommend including the Armed Forces in the definition of law enforcement agencies to facilitate the deployment of Army, Navy and Air Force personnel during local government elections.
The recommendations were approved at the EC's 12th commission meeting, held at the Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital's Agargaon on Tuesday, with Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said the EC finalised the recommendations to streamline the laws related to the local government bodies - Union Parishad, municipalities, Upazila Parishad, city corporation and Zila Parishad.
"We will soon send our recommendations to the Local Government Division," he said.
Explaining the proposals, the EC secretary said the commission recommended declaring teachers and employees of MPO-listed educational institutions ineligible to contest local government elections.
The proposed disqualification will also apply to loan defaulters and their guarantors, defaulters of utility service providers such as electricity and WASA, owners of firms with outstanding loan or utility bill defaults, dual citizens and holders of offices of profit, he said.
Akhtar said the EC also proposed amending all local government election laws to include the Armed Forces within the definition of 'law enforcement agencies', enabling the deployment of Army, Navy and Air Force personnel during local government polls in the same way as under the Representation of the People Order (RPO).
Apart from election laws, the commission also discussed several proposed amendments relating to the National Identity (NID) system.
Akhtar said the EC decided in principle to introduce an online voter migration system under which voters seeking to transfer their registration area will be able to apply online by paying a certain fee.
It also proposed revising National Identity (NID) renewal rules by requiring applicants to submit additional family information, including details of family members, to store data under the family tree system in the NID database, he said.
The EC secretary said the commission decided to lower the minimum age from the current 16 years for collecting citizens' biometric data and providing them with NID cards.
But the EC will later determine whether data collection should begin at the primary, Class-VIII or secondary school level.