The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Amid strong opposition from major political parties not to hold the local government elections before the parliamentary polls, the Election Commission (EC) is going to announce the schedules for four city corporations and nine pourashavas this afternoon.

The local body elections would be held in then cities and pourasabhas on the basis of new photo voter list which has already been completed there.

The reconstituted EC for the first time will announce the schedules of any elections amid a state of emergency continuing in the country to see the impact of the newly made electoral rules on ground.

Sources said the election schedules would be announced at 5 PM today.

The city corporations where polls will be held are: Rajshahi, Barisal, Sylhet and Khulna while the nine Pourasavas are: Dupchachia in Bogra, Naohata in Rajshahi, Sreepur in Gazipur, Fulbaria in Mymensingh, golapganj in Sylhet, Sitakunda in Chittagong, and Chuadanga, Manikganj and Shariatpur district headquarters.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Dr ATM Shamsul Huda and Election Commissioners-M Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (Retd) M Sakhawat Hossain-will be present at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The caretaker Government has already decided to relax the relevant rules of the Emergency Powers Rules (EPR) for the election areas immediately after announcement of the election schedule to facilitate the election campaigning.

According to sources, the announcement of schedule for holding Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) election might be delayed by several months since the voter list of the city has not yet been completed.

The schedule for DCC election is expected to be announced by August or September next.