Elections to Dhaka and Chittagong city corporations will be held on April 28, according to the polls schedule announced yesterday.

Mayoral and councillor aspirants can file applications from today till March 29 seeking candidature in the polls. 

More than 42 lakh voters are entitled to exercise franchise in the long-overdue polls to Dhaka north and south city corporations and over 18 lakh voters in Chittagong.

They are to elect three mayors and 179 councillors for the three city corporations.

Announcing the schedule at a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad sought wholehearted support from all political parties and city dwellers to hold the polls in a free and fair manner.

"Electoral laws and the code of conduct are the major things. We urge all aspiring candidates to follow these rules for the holding of free and fair elections," he said at the Election Commission Secretariat. 

He asked the aspiring candidates, who are using billboards for electoral campaigns, to remove their posters from those within 48 hours of the schedule announcement yesterday afternoon.

"Otherwise, legal action will be taken against them," he warned.

Seven mayoral and many councillor aspirants, mostly affiliated with the ruling Awami League, have been conducting election campaigns with giant posters on billboards and banners over the last three weeks.

Though city elections are non-partisan in nature, many candidates get blessing from political parties to contest the polls.

The AL has already endorsed two mayoral aspirants for the two Dhaka city corporations, while the BNP is yet to say whether it will back any aspirant or not.

Over the last few days, a number of BNP policymakers have been speaking against endorsing aspirants in the polls.

However, sources close to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia said she now considers backing party men to contest the city elections.

"She [Khaleda] wants to continue the opposition's countrywide anti-government movement and also allow party men to fight the battle of ballots in the three city corporations," said the source who talked to Khaleda recently at her Gulshan office.

"In that case, mayoral aspirants of the BNP chief's choice are her adviser Abdul Awal Mintoo and party's city unit Member-Secretary Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel in Dhaka north and south city corporations," said the source.

The EC announced the polls schedule at a time when the country faces non-stop blockade and a series of hartals by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

Replying to a query about the ongoing political crisis, the CEC said, "Hartal and blockade are political programmes. We have got nothing to do with that. We will ensure adequate security for voters."

Asked whether the EC would seek army deployment in the elections, Rakibuddin said they would decide on it, observing the law and order ahead of the polls.

He hoped law and order would improve as the EC already asked law enforcement agencies to take action against criminals and possessors of illegal arms.

On the use of electronic voting machines in the polls, the CEC said those wouldn't be used as there might be technical problems in the machines.

The EC appointed three of its senior officials to conduct the polls.    

The last DCC election was held in 2002 and BNP leader Sadeque Hossain Khoka was elected mayor. Though its tenure expired on May, 2007, polls couldn't be held due to a state of emergency at that time.

The previous EC led by ATM Shamsul Huda moved to hold the polls on May 31, 2010. But the government didn't agree with it.

On November 4, 2011, the government split the DCC into two -- north and south -- and appointed administrators to run those.

The EC in April 2012 announced its plan to hold the polls on May 24, 2012. But it couldn't proceed due to a court verdict over updating voters list and some other issues.

The High Court on May 13, 2013 cleared the way for holding elections, vacating its earlier order that had prevented the EC from holding the polls.

The EC in mid-2013 moved to hold the polls but the plan again hit a snag due to complexities over boundary demarcation.

In the last one and a half years, the EC wrote to the LGRD ministry several times for completing the task. But the ministry didn't comply with the EC's request.

At a cabinet meeting on February 16 this year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam to take steps to pave the way for the elections.

The EC then started work to hold the polls to the two Dhaka city corporations.

The Chittagong City Corporation last went to the polls in 2010. Its tenure will expire on July 25.