SUJON for direct voting to district council elections

Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik, a civil rights body, on Saturday urged the government to make a fresh law for district council elections with a provision of direct voting.
‘We appreciate the move of holding district council elections but the government’s plan to elect district council chairmen through voting by other local government body representatives is not acceptable,’ local government expert Tofail Ahmed said, while addressing a press conference, at Dhaka Reporters Unity in the city.
He said people did not elect local government body representatives to elect a district council chairman and the move looked contradictory to the spirit of the constitution.
He advised the government to create wards– based on population in every district– and elect the ward members through direct citizens’ votes.
Then, as per his proposal, the members would elect the chairman of the respective district.
The Election Commission officials are preparing to hold elections to the district councils after the cabinet endorsed the District Council (Amendment) Act-2016.
As per the amendment, the elected representatives of the local administrations of any district, such as a city corporation, upazila council, municipality or a union council, would be members of this voting panel.
Among others, columnist Syed Abul Maksud, SUJON secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar and its central coordinator Dilip Kumar Sarkar addressed the news conference.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net