Present UP bodies to continue till next elections

Present committees of the country's around 3,900 Union Parishads (UPs) have been asked to carry out their responsibilities until further UP elections take place.
Local Government Division (LGD) under the Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) Ministry on Tuesday issued a circular in this regard with LGD Deputy Secretary Abu Zafar Ripon signing.
The move was taken following the government's recent decision to postpone polls of the UPs amid upsurge of Covid 19 transmission in the country. As a result, the UPs where tenures of the elected councils were completed have been facing administration related complication.
The government has recently postponed polls of 167 UPs out of 301, scheduled for holding polls on June 21.
Although polls of the rest 204 were held amid the transmission the Election Commission has finally decided not to hold polls of other UPs later.
According to the provisions of Local Government (Union Parishad) Act, the polls of a union parishad will be held within last 180 days before expiry of its council's tenure.
According to EC sources, elections of some 4,104 UPs were held in between March 22 to June 4 in 2016. As per the law, tenures of all this UP councils have already expired. Of the expired councils, a total 204 UPs have got new council in its June 21 polls.
As a result, a total of 3,900 UPs have been facing difficulties with expired council. In accordance with the LGD circular, the councils of those 3,900 UPs will now have legal authority to run the councils smoothly until further elections.