Legal disputes bar polls in 79 UPs

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Election Commission (EC) has not been able to hold polls in 79 Union Parishads (UPs) at different districts for more than 12 years due to pending cases on various legal disputes mostly on area delimitation, reports BSS.
"Polls are pending at 79 UPs for more than 12 years including several UPs for 17 to 18 years for various legal disputes," Election Commissioner Brigadier General (retd) M Shakhawat Hossain told the news agency Tuesday.
He said the Election Commission has asked the concerned ministries to take measures for disposing off the pending cases in a speedy manner.
Officials concerned with the local government election branch of EC said election dates of Shyampur and Matuail unions of Dhaka district have expired in 1992 and 1993 respectively. "But, we could not hold polls at those UPs even after 18 years due to pending cases," he said.
UP election dates of Madanpur in Narayanganj and Srikol in Magura expired in 1995 and '96 respectively while polls at 10 UPs were due after 1997, he also said.
According to the EC data, elections of 4,228 out of 4,504 UPs are already pending.