Council members to take oath in phases

Agencies

Dhaka

The oath-taking ceremony of newly elected sub-district (upazila) councils’ representatives in Bangladesh will be held in two phases as the sub-district councils’ polls are being held in six phases.

Upon completion of the third phase of the polls on March 15, the first round of the ceremony would be held within the current month, while the second round would take place after the polls end.

The date of oath-taking ceremony would be finalised after the election commission publishes the gazette.

The election commission has been requested to publish the gazette of the elected chairman, vice-chairman and women vice-chairman after the third phase ends on March 15, said local government division officials.

Election to 83 sub-districts will be held on March 15. In the first two phases, polls were held in 212 out of 487 sub-districts on February 19 and 27.

Local government secretary Monzur Hossain said that the oath-taking programme of the elected representatives had to be conducted within a month of the gazette publication, following the local government (upazila) Act.

Regarding oath taking of detained and fugitive Jamaat leaders, Monzur said: “Everything would be done following laws and rules.”

Meanwhile, the local government division has sent a letter to the election commission requesting it to hold polls in 11 sub-districts out of the 20 sub-districts where the polls were barred following border disputes.