The Election Commission on Tuesday approved a proposal to increase the security deposits for the posts of upazila parishad chairman by 10 times.
As per the decision, the security deposit will stand at Tk 1 lakh from Tk 10,000.
The commission also approved a proposal to increase the required security deposit for the post of vice chairman by 15 times and Tk 5,000 for female member candidates.
The decisions were taken during the 28th meeting of the commission, EC Secretary Jahangir Alam told reporters after the meeting.
He said the EC approved the proposal to increase the security deposit of upazila parishad chairman to Tk 1 lakh from the existing Tk 10,000. In line with this, the commission approved another proposal to increase the security deposit for the post of vice chairman to Tk 75,000 from the existing Tk 5,000.
The commission has also fixed Tk 25 lakh as election expenditure for the chairmen and vice chairmen aspirants while female member candidate will be able to spend Tk 1 lakh. Besides, the commission has set a guideline mentioning thataspirants will not be allowed to run campaign with more than five supporters and each aspirant will be able to set up a single camp office at each union.
The aspirants will be able to set up camp office within three wards at the municipality area.
EC secretary said that the decisions will not be effective right now as the EC will send the proposals to the law ministry for vetting.
“The proposals approved in the commission will be sent to the law ministry. The rules will be amended after vetting,” he said.
The electoral law amendment committee, headed by Election Commissioner Rasheda Sultana, brought the proposals.
The commission also approved a few other amendments, including the use of colourful posters.
The committee also proposed several other amendments to the law, including abolishing voter support lists in case of independent candidates.