Editorial
Staying of DCC polls
Onus was on the govt to take timely preparation
We are sad to note that the election to the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has been stayed for three moths following a High Court order. This is to enable delimitation of constituencies of the bifurcated DCC and update the voters' list.
We recall that no election to the DCC could be held since 2007 when the term for the previous mayor expired during the time of the last caretaker government. But after the present government assumed office in 2009, it could not hold the mayoral polls for DCC on time, for reasons best known it.
Clearly, the government dragged its feet on demarcating the wards for DCC (North) and DCC (South) and announcing their names, in pursuance of the Local Government ( City Corporations) Act, 2009, which complicated matters for the Election Commission (EC).
The EC for its part should have updated the voter roll for the DCC polls before announcing the schedule.
What comes through it all is the government's nonchalant attitude reflecting a lack of required political will to hold the DCC elections.
The government is trying to explain away its inaction on the ground that the DCC is a single entity, despite its bifurcation through an executive fiat in November last year. Does it stand to reason?
How expeditiously the government and the EC comply with the requirements of the HC order would be a measure of the seriousness they accord to their constitutional obligations.
They should therefore waste no time in taking all necessary steps to delimit the city corporation wards under the new dispensation of two DCCs. Simultaneously, EC should take up the work to update the existing voters' list to hold the polls within the stipulated time.
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