Upazila parishad: Relationship between elected reps and govt officials

Upazila parishad is an administrative unit of central government at local level. All the activities of local government are performed and monitored by the Upazila Parishad. A decentralised administration can be the starting place of balanced development. Local government has been mistakenly considered as an insignificant segment of the government. The immediate past government of Bangladesh had reformed the administrative system and upgraded the previous thana to upazila to serve as the focal point of development administration.

In 1976, President Ziaur Rahman promulgated a local government ordinance providing for upazila parishad in each district. Though the ordinance said the parishads shall be composed of elected representatives for a five-year term, no elections were held. Instead, deputy commissioners were appointed ex-officio chairmen of the parishads. Two years after promulgation of the ordinance, the country's first military ruler amended the constitution through a martial law proclamation to bring back the provision requiring the government to promote local government institutions.

Grabbing state power in 1982, General HM Ershad introduced upazila parishads. During his rule, he promulgated an ordinance and five acts including the Upazila Parishad Act of 1988. Each thana was upgraded to upazila and designated as focal point of administration with responsibility for all local development activities. The central government retained the authority to oversee regulatory functions and major development activities of national and regional importance. Ershad regime held two upazila elections--one in 1985 and the other in 1990. Upazila parishads constituted under the act of 1988 worked up to 1990. With the downfall of Ershad, the upazila parishad chairmen, most of whom were MPs from Ershad's Jatiya Party, were removed and DCs returned as ex-officio chairmen.

The BNP-led government abolished the upazila system shortly after coming to power in 1991. Things did not improve even after reintroduction of the constitutional provisions on local government in 1991. The upazila parishads continued functioning under the act of 1988 during the BNP rule between 1991 and 1996.

In 2000, the AL-led government repealed the Upazila Parishad Act of 1988 and framed a new law providing for direct election to the parishads. But no election has been held, allowing the bureaucrats to run the parishads. Then the Fakhruddin led caretaker government issued the local government ordinance in 2008 and consequently AL-led government reintroduced, revived and passed Upazila Parishad Act on 6 April, 2009. The government issued guidelines on the functioning of the newly formed upazila parishad. However, the actual situation represents a totally different picture. The desired integration both vertical and horizontal and coordination in local level planning is non-existent due to the absence of any clear direction from the central government and inadequacy in Upazila Parishad Act 2009.

Relations between public representatives and officials at the upazila level are strained because a clear allocation of authority to political executives is lacking, areas for co-operation among different agencies have not been clarified and public representatives and government officials lack mutual respect. This anomalous relation creates stagnant situation in upazila system. Besides at present the upazila parishad is facing some problems between the parishad chairman and local MP who is made adviser to the parishad. This advisory role creates multi-dimensional conflict among chairman, UNO and MPs. This conflict is in respect of authority and resources. Such kinds of conflicts generate ambiguity in thinking, and in conducting the development activities of upazila parishad.

Major findings of upazila parishad are lack of coordination in upazila administration, lack of awareness of government officials in conducting their activities, overburdened responsibilities of UNO, administrative procedures are not followed properly, unholy alliance between officials and elected representatives, adherence to and discrepancy in rules and regulations, enormous conflict between elected representative & govt. officials because of role conflict and political favouritism and political influence.

After the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August 2024, the interim administration took several steps to ensure the democratic transition. Among these steps, 11 commissions were formed by the government to reform the state system. Recently, the interim government has released the complete report of the six commissions formed in the first phase to drive state reform initiatives e.g. the Electoral Reform Commission, the Police Reform Commission, the Judiciary Reform Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission Reform Commission, the Public Administration Reform Commission, and the Constitutional Reform Commission. The reports were published on the websites of the cabinet division on 8 February 2025.

The reports from five other reform commissions formed in the second phase in November - on media, health, labour, women's affairs, and local government - are still pending. Among the published reports, the Electoral Reform Commission has proposed over 200 recommendations, prioritising 16 key areas, to improve various aspects of the country's election process. In this report, holding local elections before national elections are among the commission's notable proposals. Additionally, the commission recommends establishing a permanent local government commission and cancelling candidacy if false information is found in affidavits.

The Electoral Reform Commission of Bangladesh has proposed a comprehensive set of recommendations aimed at enhancing the country's electoral system. The salient recommendations are:

1. Setting up of a Standing Local Government Commission on the basis of report of the 'Local Government Strengthening and Mobilization Committee' which was formed in 2007.

2. Organising local government elections before national elections.

3. Amend the law to make local government elections non-partisan.

4. Provision for conducting all local government elections through direct voting and ensuring meaningful role of members/councillors in decision-making of the respective institutions.

5. Provision of reservation of seats for women on a rotating basis at all levels of local government.

6. Providing for the resignation of teachers from the post of MPO before taking the oath in case of being elected to local government institutions.

7. To ensure voters' right to know their background through affidavits of Union Parishad chairman and member candidates.

8. Organising zila parishad elections in hilly areas.

9. Provisions for 30 per cent of the national budget must be allocated to local government institutions.

According to the constitution and Upazila Parishad Act, the functions of the parishads include dealing with local administrative and establishment issues, ensuring law and order and services related to public welfare, and formulation and implementation of local economic and social development plans. Lawmakers, who were made advisers to the upazila parishads have also been controlling many local development activities engaging their party people to ensure their stronghold in the areas. This creates conflict at upazila level. Besides, almost all upazila parishads have yet to form a set of departmental standing committees to carry out their tasks properly as well, because of a lack of guidelines. It should be resolved immediately as top most priority.

Md Asgar Ali is a banker. He can be reached at asgaralibd@gmail.com