The first-ever district council elections will be held on December 28, announced the Election Commission yesterday.

The polls will be one-sided if the BNP and the Jatiya Party don't participate in the electoral race as per the announcements they have already made. 

Only the elected representatives of different local government bodies will vote to elect a chairman, 15 general members and 5 women members in reserved seats in each district council, according to the District Council (Amendment) Act, 2016.

The elected representatives of each district include chairman and members of union parishad (UP); chairman and vice chairman of upazila parishad and mayor and councillor of municipality and city corporation.

The way the elections will be held is opposed to the constitution, said the BNP, referring to the fact that district councils would not be formed through direct voting of people. 

The main opposition JP said taking part in the polls would be "meaningless".

The incumbent district administrators appointed by the Awami League-led government in 2011 under political consideration will get party support to contest the chairman posts, said AL sources.

The final voters' list was not available until yesterday evening. According to a rough estimation by the EC, more than 65,000 voters will cast ballots in the elections.

Single or multiple polling stations will be set up at each upazila based on the number of voters.  

Voting will take place from 9:00am to 2:00pm on the election day in 61 districts excluding three hilly districts -- Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari, EC officials said.

Like other local government elections, the Speaker and the opposition leader in parliament, ministers, MPs and other VIPs enjoying government facilities cannot participate in election campaigns, according to the electoral code of conduct.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad announced the poll schedule at a press conference at the EC's media centre yesterday.

The last dates of filing and withdrawing nominations are December 1 and 11, according to the schedule.

Nominations will be scrutinized on December 3 and 4, while electoral symbols will be allocated on December 12.

In 2000, the Awami League-led government repealed the Zila Parishad Act, 1988 and passed the District Council Act-2000 with a provision for holding elections to zila parishads. But no election to zila parishads has been held so far, allowing bureaucrats to run them.

In December 2011, the government appointed administrators to 61 zila parishads or district councils, most of whom were top leaders of the AL's district units.

Finally, the parliament on October 6 this year passed the District Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016.  

AL ACTIVITIES

The AL has begun its candidate selection process. Some 600 chairman aspirants have already submitted their CVs to the AL president's Dhanmondi office in the capital.

The AL's Parliamentary Board will select the candidates soon.

The party is considering supporting the incumbent district administrators to contest the chairman posts on the zila councils, party sources said.

At the time of appointing them in 2011 the party chose mostly its district unit presidents and general secretaries who didn't get party nominations for 2008 national elections. They were also ignored in the January 5, 2014 general polls.

That is why they will get the party's blessings this time, as per sources in the ruling party.

For the posts of 15 general councillors and five female councillors, the AL's Parliamentary Board on Thursday asked presidents and general secretaries of the party's district units to recommend names and send the list to the AL president's political office within a week.