The Election Commission has fixed Tk 1 lakh as security deposit for the aspirants of the upazila parishad chairman.
Amending the Upazila Parishad Election Rules and Election Conduct Rules, the EC published a notification on Wednesday, increasing the security deposit by 10 times for the chairman hopeful. Earlier, the amount was only Tk 10,000.
It has also increased the security deposit by 15 times for the post of the vice chairman. In the past, the vice chairman aspirants had to deposit Tk 5,000. Now the aspirants will have to deposit Tk 75,000 to vie the race. For the independent candidates, the EC omitted a provision of submission of a list with signatures of 250 voters as supporters.
In the past, there was a provision to cancel the security deposit if one-eighth of the votes were not obtained. Now it has been reduced to one-fifteenth.
If any candidates fails to beg one-fifteenth votes of the total casting, the security deposit will be lost.
In addition, maximum election expenses for chairman or vice chairman posts have been fixed at Tk 25 lakh and Tk 1 lakh for female member posts.
Earlier, the expenditure limit was fixed in proportion to the number of voters.
In the past, the aspirants could be able to take part in campaign three weeks before the voting date. Amending the provision, the EC has said that aspirants may run campaign during the day of allocation of the symbol.
A new provision has also been added so that the aspirants may run campaign through digitally and social sites.
As per the new rules, the candidates may use colourful posters and banners.
Apart from these, submission of nomination papers online as well as submission of income tax return certificate and TIN number along with nomination papers have been made mandatory.
Moreover, the presiding officer has been given the power to stop voting in case of irregularities.
The commission decided to bring these amendments on 20 February. After the vetting of the Ministry of Law, the EC amended the rules with the notification.
The EC has already announced that elections to 481 upazila parishad would be held in four phases. The first phase elections will be held on May 4 while second phase on May 11, third phase on May 18 and final phase on May 25.
Ruling Awami League has already announced that it will not allocate the boat symbol to any candidate in the upazila parishad polls while the BNP, which boycotted the January 7 general elections, has decided to boycott this polls too.