No need to amend the law: Tazul

Development, and Co-operatives Minister Tazul Islam yesterday said there is no need to amend the law to hold elections for upazila parishads and other local government bodies without party symbols.

Speaking at a seminar at the Dhaka Reporters Unity, he noted that the existing law allows parties to field their nominated candidates, who can contest the election without using party symbols.

The Reporters Forum for Election and Democracy (RFED) organised the seminar titled "Challenges in Strengthening Local Government System and the Role of Party Symbols in Elections".

Brig Gen (retd) Sakhawat Hussain, a former election commissioner, emphasised that local government elections were not initially intended to be held under party symbols. He argued that assigning party symbols to candidates centralises power within party leadership.

"Now the entire election system has become corrupted. The party symbol was introduced in local government elections to serve the interests of a party," he said.

Another former election commissioner, Kabita Khanam, suggested that changing the political culture is essential for making elections acceptable.

Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary of Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan), mentioned that the local government system has weakened due to "intervention by lawmakers and control by public administration".

Among others, lawmaker Sayeed Khokon, local governance expert Prof Tofail Ahmed, and election expert Abdul Alim spoke at the event.