Zila, upazila parishads to have 2 vice-chairmen each
Direct election proposed in draft ordinance
Courtesy New Age 28/4/08
The interim administration has taken a move to create new posts of vice-chairman in upazila and zila parishads to be elected by direct vote.
One of the two posts of vice-chairman in both the local government bodies will be held by a female, directly elected.
Zila parishad chairmen from now on will also be elected by people, according to a decision made at an inter-ministry meeting at the Local Government Division on Sunday.
‘We are going to create two posts of vice-chairman both at upazila and zila parishads. The zila parisad chairmen in all but the three Chittagong Hill Tracts districts will now be elected by people as is the case in upazila,’ the LGRD and cooperatives adviser, Anwarul Iqbal, told reporters at the secretariat after the meeting on the draft Local Government (Union Parishad, Upazila Parishad and Zila Parishad) Ordinance 2008.
The provisions for the creation of 1,086 posts of vice-president in the local government bodies, a half of which will be held by females, and direct election to the post of zila parishad chairman will be incorporated in the ordinance prepared by a the high-powered committee on strengthening the local government bodies. Elections to all the 482 upazila parishads have been overdue as the previous governments were not interested in holding the polls to the local government bodies, according to officials.
‘The draft will be sent to the law ministry for vetting before it is placed at the meeting of the council of advisers,’ Anwarul said.
In line with the recommendations of the committee, the cabinet has approved the Local Government [Municipality] Ordinance 2008 and the Local Government [City Corporation] Ordinance 2008 with some changes in the proposed laws.
‘We have finally scrapped the proposal for 40, 30 and 30 per cent seats for women at every tier — zila, upazila, and union — for three consecutive terms by rotation on a High Court verdict against it. So the existing 30 per cent reserved seats for women in the local government bodies will be in force with equal opportunities for all representatives,’ Iqbal said, adding that fresh rules would be framed to this effect soon.
He said the officials and employees at union parishads would be brought under the revenue budget as is the case with other local government bodies.
As for elections to the local government bodies, including upazila parishad, Anwarul said it was now a compulsion of the Election Commission to conduct all the elections. ‘The Election Commission has already been invested with the power to conduct the upazila parishad elections,’ he said.
Anwarul said the government had again appealed to the High Court for an extension to the timeframe for the upazila parishad elections by six more months.
Such extensions were made for at least 10 to 12 times as the previous governments were not interested in holding the upazila polls.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, after assuming office in 1991, dissolved the upazila parishad system which was introduced in 1982 by HM Ershad.
The first elections to upazila parishads were held in 1984, followed by the second in 1988.
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