Ishraque declared Dhaka South mayor without ministry's opinion due to legal deadline: EC

The Election Commission has clarified that it declared BNP's Ishraque Hossain as the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation without seeking further opinions from the law ministry due to a legal obligation to resolve the matter within a 10-day deadline.

"We were under a legal obligation to dispose of the matter within 10 days… So we proceeded accordingly," Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah told reporters after a meeting of the commission today.

The meeting was held with Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin in the chair, while all four election commissioners and the EC senior secretary were present.

Responding to questions about why the EC issued a gazette notification before receiving the law ministry's opinion, Sanaullah said, "We sought an opinion as soon as possible. April 25 was the tenth day, that day was a Friday. We took two days. We waited until 5pm on Sunday. Since we did not receive the reply, we implemented the court order so that there would be no deviation."

On 27 April, the EC issued the gazette notification, but a day later, the law adviser told reporters that although the EC had sought an opinion, the notification was issued before any advice could be given. 

"We were still considering whether to allow publication or recommend an appeal," he said.

On 27 March, Judge of the Election Tribunal in Dhaka Md Nurul Islam declared the results of the 2020 DSCC election, held on 1 February that year, void and announced Ishraque Hossain, the BNP mayoral candidate, as the valid winner.

It also cancelled the previous government gazette that had named Awami League's Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh as mayor and ordered the EC to issue a fresh gazette in Ishraque's favour within 10 days.

When asked about why the EC did not file an appeal against the court verdict, the election commissioner said, "We are not the aggrieved party. If we were dissatisfied with the verdict, we could have appealed. The court overturned a previous result, and we have simply implemented that ruling." 

Rohingya and NID issue

At the briefing, the EC also announced that any Rohingya individuals identified in voter lists would be removed immediately.

"We routinely update voter lists in special zones to prevent Rohingya infiltration. If any are found through fraud, they will be excluded right away," Sanaullah said.

He further said that applications related to the correction of National Identity Cards (NID) often remain pending for a long time, and discussions have been held on how to simplify the process. 

"We've decided that if an individual or citizen does not have any dishonest intention, their requests will be resolved promptly and in a simplified manner," he said.

He added that around 209,000 "match found" cases, about 0.16% of the entire data centre, exist due to fingerprint mismatches, especially among workers or elderly citizens. 

Steps are being taken to address these issues quickly, he said.

"Additionally, a decision was taken to simplify the law governing our services so that people can access them more easily," he added.

Electoral reforms

Election Commissioner Sanaullah also told reporters that the EC is going to recommend to the government a set of electoral reforms that are above political debate and could be implemented without delay, but won't require political consensus.

"We've finalised the recommendations that could be implemented immediately. We will send them today."

He said the government earlier asked the EC to propose reforms that are eligible for immediate implementation, reports UNB.

Sanaullah explained that the EC categorised the reform proposals into three types –  those that can be implemented immediately without political consensus, those that need political agreement, and those relating to rules that the EC can amend on its own.

He said the commission is not commenting on proposals that require political consensus at this stage.

"There are also reforms under the EC's jurisdiction, such as amendments to rules, which we can implement by ourselves," he added.