Draft electoral rules sent to law ministry for scrutiny

The Election Commission yesterday sent two separate drafts of electoral rules and code of conduct for the upcoming municipality polls to the law ministry for scrutiny. 

"The drafts will be finalised when the law ministry will send them back after vetting. Then we will be able to announce the schedule," EC Secretary Sirazul Islam told The Daily Star last evening.

The schedule may be announced today or tomorrow, and voting in 236 municipalities may take place by the end of December, said a number of EC officials seeking anonymity.

The electoral rules and the code of conduct have been drafted in the light of the newly passed Local Government (Municipality) Amendment Act-2015 that paves the way for only mayoral hopefuls to contest municipality polls on political parties' ticket.

The councillor candidates will contest the election in a non-partisan manner, and eligible mayor hopefuls can run independently.