'DCC, CCC polls before Ramadan'

Elections to Dhaka and Chittagong city corporations will be held before the month of Ramadan, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said today.

As per lunar calendar, the Ramadan may begin after June 17.

The CEC was addressing a press briefing after a meeting with the high officials of the ministries of home and education and law enforcement agencies at the conference room of the Election Commission Secretariat in the morning.

"We will hold the elections before Ramadan. We have completed our preparations regarding this," he told the reporters.

Replying to a question, he added, "We may declare the schedule this month." 

"The law enforcement agencies are confident that they can keep law and order situation under control during the elections," the CEC quoted high-up police officials as saying at the meeting. 

Home Secretary Mozammel Haque Khan, Education Additional Secretary Swapan Kumar Sarker, Rapid Action Battalion Director General Benazir Ahmed, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia and Chittagong Metropolitan Police Commissioner Abdul Jalil Mandol were, among others, present at the meeting.  

The last election to the undivided DCC was held on April 2002, and its tenure expired in May 2007.

But the DCC election could not be held in time for various reasons, including the then state of emergency and complexities regarding boundary demarcation.

The LGRD ministry last month had removed the complexity regarding boundary demarcation and requested the EC to take necessary steps for holding the DCC polls.

The last election to the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) was held in 2010.