EC plans 2,000 UP elections before Ramadan: Masud

The Election Commission (EC) is moving ahead with plans to hold Union Parishad (UP) elections in phases from January next year, with the process expected to be completed by June 6.

According to the preliminary plan, the first phase of UP elections could begin in the first week of January.

Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud said that if the first phase begins in the first week of January, elections to around 2,000 UPs could be completed in three phases before the holy month of Ramadan.

Masud said the election schedule would be announced 40 to 45 days before the first phase.

He said the Commission would also take public examinations into consideration while setting the election dates so that students can sit for their examinations without disruption. However, he stressed that no final decision had been taken yet.

“We have all kinds of preparations ready. We will undertake any further preparatory measures that may be required,” he said, adding that election preparation is an ongoing process.

Masud said the plan is to hold UP elections in several phases before Ramadan and resume the process afterwards to complete all the elections by June.

Regarding other local government elections, he said the Commission was considering holding municipal elections immediately after the UP polls.

“Once the UP elections are concluded, other local government elections would follow in phases,” he said.

Emphasising the need for cooperation from all relevant agencies, Masud said law enforcement agencies, the administration, school and college teachers and others would need to work together to ensure smooth elections.

“We require the cooperation of law enforcement agencies, the administration, and everyone else, including school and college teachers. So, we will strive to conduct a successful election through coordination with the government,” he said.

On security arrangements, Masud said the law and order situation was currently normal and that the Commission had received assurances of stability during recent preparatory meetings with various ministries, departments and authorities.

“We will proceed assuming the law and order situation is normal, and we will not call upon the army initially,” he said.

“If, after the first phase of UP elections, we feel that law enforcement needs to be strengthened, we will consider it. Otherwise, we do not currently feel the need to deploy the army for all local government elections,” he added.

Meanwhile, Election Commissioner Brigadier General (retd) Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah said elections would have to be held promptly in around 4,272 of the country’s 4,580 UPs to comply with the legal requirement of holding elections within 180 days before the expiry of their terms.

Speaking after a recent meeting with various ministries, departments and authorities on local government elections and the by-election to the Thakurgaon-1 constituency, Sanaullah said the Commission intended to complete the UP elections before June 6.

Election Commissioner Md Anwarul Islam Sarkar also said the UP elections were likely to begin in January.

He said the Commission was considering a timeline to complete the local government elections by June 6.

“We hope that if the examinations conclude by December, we will be able to conduct the local government elections starting in January,” he said.

Meanwhile, the EC has published the gazette notification for the Union Parishad (Election Code of Conduct) Rules, 2026.

Under the revised rules, the security deposit has been set at 25,000 taka for a chairman candidate and 5,000 taka for a member candidate.

The Commission has also capped election expenditure at 10 lakh taka for a chairman candidate and 2 lakh taka for a member candidate.