DCC poll unlikely before January next

BSS, Dhaka

Although the five-year tenure of the mayor and councillors of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) expired in June 2007 the DCC polls are unlikely this year due to legal tangle.
The elections of the local government bodies including the city corporations should be held every five years as per rules. But the existing rules do not say anything about how to hand over the charges after expiry of the tenure.
The present mayor of the DCC, Sadeq Hossain Khoka, and its councillors has to continue in their positions until the next election. Taking this opportunity, they have already spent additional two years in office.
Meanwhile, though the Election Commission (EC) has taken the preparation for the election, it still appears uncertain due to intricacy of law and incomplete voter list.
An EC source told BSS that announcing the election schedule of the DCC poll is not possible without amending the relevant law and updating the voter list of Dhaka city.
These two things cannot be done before the month of November, the EC source said.
LGRD ministry sources said the Local Government (City Corporation) (Amendment) Bill 2009 has been sent back to the House after scrutiny by the parliamentary standing committee on the LGRD and cooperatives ministry, but that was yet to be passed.
Besides, the finalisation of rules under the Local Government (City Corporation) has to follow a long procedure before getting approved by the cabinet, they said.
Election Commissioners Muhammad Sohul Hossain and Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain recently told journalists that the DCC election would have to be held after the passage of the Local Government (City Corporation) (Amendment) Bill.