The Election Commission, on numerous occasions had assured that there are no legal hurdles against holding the mayoral by-polls. Following the court order, EC suspended all proceedings of that election the same day. In their initial review of the High Court order over the DNCC by-polls, election experts stated that they had already identified the grounds on which the election was suspended. A meeting was held in December last year before the announcement of election schedule, but this particular issue was not discussed. Blaming both the government and the commission, the election expert said: “The LGRD Ministry and the Election Commission cannot avoid taking responsibility for this debacle.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 18, 2018 05:48 UTC