FE Report
Election Commissioner Md Shahnewaz on Tuesday said police do not need to take Election Commission's (EC) permission for arresting anyone during the upcoming city corporation elections.
Responding to a question on how the candidates who are facing cases could contest in the polls, he said: "The laws say who will be candidates, and how to contest in the polls. In this case it will be done as per the law."
About creating a level-playing field for all candidates in the city corporation polls he said: "EC has completed six city corporations' elections. We believe that this time we will also be able to hold the elections in a free, fair and transparent manner."
He, however, said if any candidate violates the electoral code of conduct, and the violation comes to EC's notice, necessary steps will be taken.
EC announced the polls schedule on March 18. As per the schedule, the polls will be held simultaneously on April 28 for Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Chittagong City Corporation (CCC).
The nomination papers will be scrutinised on April 1 and 2, while the date for their withdrawal has been set on April 9.
While replying to a question about candidates who could not submit their nomination papers in time, he said: "This time 11 days are given to the candidates. There is no provision to submit nominations papers after 5:00 pm. The returning officials did nothing wrong. In this case there is no scope for special consideration."
BNP mayoral candidates - Mirza Abbas, Abdus Salam and Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu - are facing different cases.
"EC should ensure a level-playing field for all the contesting candidates," Badiul Alam Majumber, secretary of Sujan, told the FE about arrest by police without EC's permission.
Meanwhile, some of the aspiring ward councillor candidates, who could not submit their nomination forms for the upcoming DNCC and DSCC polls even after reaching the EC office at Agargaon within the scheduled time, said they will take legal actions against EC officials.
"We are considering taking legal actions," a councillor aspirant told the FE.
He said some of them expressed their intention to go for legal actions after meeting Election Commissioner Abdul Mobarak on Tuesday.
EC informed them that it can do nothing in this regard, as the last date of submitting nomination papers is over.
AKM Nuruzzaman, a councillor aspirant for ward-50 under DNCC, talked with the journalists on behalf of the aggrieved candidates.
He said although they maintained all necessary formalities, due to negligence of a few EC officials they could not submit their forms on time.
At least 20-25 councillor aspirants of both DNCC and DSCC made similar complaint on Monday.
Three representatives of them managed to meet Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed to seek his intervention in resolving the matter.
The deadline of submitting nomination papers ended at 5:00 pm on March 29.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com1
Police can arrest sans EC\\\'s consent during city polls
FE Team | Published: April 01, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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