Dr. Tofail Ahmed, one of the members of the Electoral Reform Commission, believes that local government elections should be held before the national elections. However, he also said that if the commission's electoral roadmap for reforms is not completed before then, the reforms will be delayed.
Professor Tofail Ahmed said these things during a discussion with media personnel at the Election Building in Agargaon in the capital on Saturday (November 23).
He said that the country does not have a local government system. There is only a collection of a few institutions. The job of this commission will be to establish a local government system. He further said that bringing it to a parliamentary system is also being considered to reduce the cost of elections. But that must be done by implementing local government reforms.
Local government expert Tofail Ahmed said that Tk. 23 thousand crore was spent in the past local government elections. If the local government elections are held through the parliamentary system, it will cost Tk. 600 crore and will take less time.
Local elections should be organized like parliamentary elections, where the chairman will not be directly elected. Only councilors and members will be elected there. They will elect the chairman, he said.