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The Election Commission (EC) plans to recommend barring dual citizens from contesting local government elections, arguing that individuals who owe allegiance to another country should not be eligible to serve as elected representatives in Bangladesh.
The proposed restriction would apply to elections for city corporations, municipalities, upazila parishads and union parishads.
The EC is expected to finalise the recommendation at its meeting on Tuesday and subsequently send it to the government.
EC Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud said dual citizens are currently eligible to contest local government elections, but the commission believes they should not have that opportunity.
“The recommendations will be finalised at our commission meeting on Tuesday. Hopefully, we will send them to the relevant authorities within the next two to four days,” he said.
Under Article 66 of the Constitution and Article 12 of the Representation of the People Order (RPO), dual citizens are barred from contesting parliamentary elections.
However, there is no similar explicit restriction under the existing laws governing local government elections, allowing dual citizens to contest such polls.
The EC believes candidates for mayor and councillor posts in city corporations and municipalities, chairman and vice-chairman posts in upazila parishads, and chairman posts in union parishads should be required to relinquish any foreign citizenship before contesting elections.
“Someone who retains allegiance to another country cannot govern Bangladesh. This is not accepted in any country,” EC officials said.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami has written to the EC seeking a provision to disqualify office-bearers and active members of banned political parties from contesting elections.
On the issue, Commissioner Masud said local government elections would not be held using party symbols, making it difficult to determine a candidate’s political affiliation.
“Anyone who meets the eligibility criteria will be able to contest,” he said.
