Local Government Reform Commission Chief Professor Tofail Ahmed on Sunday (Apr 20) suggested holding local government elections immediately to establish stability in the country. “Due to the political changes in the country, a vacuum has been created in all the unions, upazilas and zila parishads. This vacuum may create instability so it is an urgent to hold the local government polls soon to maintain stability,” he said. Tofail Ahmed made the remarks while speaking at a press briefing at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka in the evening after the Commission members submitted its report to the Chief Adviser of the interim government Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna, local media reported.
However, he said the government and political parties will have to decide which of the local and national elections will come first. “Both local and national elections are important. However, if you hold one, you could not be arranged the other, such condition does not seem right. The government will decide which one comes first and which comes later. We are only talking about the need for elections,” Tofail said.
He said the Commission proposed making the posts of union parishad members and city corporation councilors open for all. There are nine wards in each union parishad but the population in some union parishads are very high, he said.
For this reason, Tofail said, the commission recommended that the number of wards can be increased considering the population size.
Mentioning that people do not have voting rights in zila parishad polls, he said this is a big obstacle because of the different structures and laws. “We have tried to reform the organisational structure and the legal structure, and bring those to the same level,” the commission chief said.
That is why, he said, the commission proposed introducing democratic systems from the grassroots level and establishing the model of the parliamentary system.
The same recommendation is made for municipalities and city corporations too, Tofail said.
Earlier in the day, the Local Government Reform Commission, led by its head Tofail Ahmed, submitted its final report to the Chief Advisor.
