District Council Election on Dec 28

       -- Last date of filing nomination is December 1

       -- Withdrawal of nomination on December 11

       -- Electoral symbol allocation on December 12

The first ever elections to district councils will be held on December 28, the Election Commission announced today.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed announced the schedule at a press briefing at the EC's media centre in Dhaka around 1:15pm.

As per the schedule, the last date of filing nomination is December 1 and the last date of withdrawing nomination is December 11.

The electoral symbol will be allocated on December 12.

Voting will be held from 9:00am to 2:00pm on that day.

The House on October 6 passed the District Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

According to the laws, only the elected representatives of different local government bodies -- city corporations, upazila parishads and union parishads -- will vote to elect a chairman, 15 general members and five women members in each district council.

In 2000, the Awami League-led government repealed the Zila Parishad Act, 1988 and passed the District Council Act, 2000, with a provision for direct polls. But no elections to the councils had been held so far, allowing bureaucrats to run those bodies.

In December 2011, the AL government appointed 61 administrators, mostly top leaders of the ruling party's district units, to as many district councils.