First phase of upazila polls: Officials from EC, not admin, to be ROs, AROs

The Election Commission has made its own officials the returning officers and assistant returning officers for the elections to 152 upazila parishads scheduled for May 8.

This is the first time the EC has asked its own workforce to conduct polls in so many places, EC officials said, adding that the tasks were usually shared by administration cadre officials.

For the May 8 elections, there are 59 returning officers (ROs), one for each district, and 152 assistant returning officers (AROs), one for each upazila.

Elections will be held in the rest 329 upazilas on May 23, May 29 and June 5.

District election officers or senior election officers are the ROs while upazila election officers are the AROs.

The commission has made the decision to develop the skills of its officials, according to Ashok Kumar Debnath, additional secretary of the EC.

A notice regarding the development was issued last night.

In the next phases of the upazila parishad election, either the administration officials or the EC officials will do the task. They will not share the responsibility, he told The Daily Star yesterday.

After a meeting of election commissioners, Ashok announced the schedule for the May 8 polls.

The last date for submission of nomination papers is April 15 and withdrawal of candidature is April 22, he said, adding that the nomination papers will be scrutinised on April 17.

Electronic voting machines will be used in 22 upazilas of Shariatpur, Chandpur, Jamalpur, Pabna, Sirajganj, Jashore, Pirojpur, Manikganj and Cox's Bazar.

This the sixth upazila parishad election in Bangladesh.