According to the Constitution of Bangladesh, sovereignty belongs to the people. Article 7 of the Constitution recognises the sovereignty of the people and stipulates that the state shall be governed in accordance with their will. The responsibility for implementing the people’s mandate has been entrusted to their elected representatives.

The Constitution grants authority at all levels of government to elected representatives. Just as elected representatives in the Jatiya Sangsad are empowered to enact laws, local government institutions are also meant to be administered through elected representatives. Article 59 of the Constitution states that local government in every administrative unit of the Republic shall be entrusted to bodies composed of persons elected in accordance with the law.

The Constitution is the supreme law of Bangladesh. Any law inconsistent with it is deemed unconstitutional. Yet city corporations, municipalities, upazila parishads and union parishads across the country are currently being run by appointed individuals in violation of the Constitution. This constitutes a serious breach of constitutional provisions. Beyond violating the Constitution, administering local government through appointed administrators also amounts to contempt of court.

Although the 1972 Constitution envisaged local government through elected representatives, this was not implemented for many years. After the restoration of democracy in 1991, a citizen raised the matter before the court. Following extensive hearings, the court directed that elected representatives must be ensured at all levels of local government. The Appellate Division ruled that administering local government through appointed administrators and nominated persons was unlawful.

The ruling further stated that, in exceptional circumstances and for reasonable causes, the government may appoint administrators for local government bodies, but only for the shortest possible period. It also made clear that such administrators would not be authorised to take policy-level decisions. However, the current BNP government’s appointed administrators are making policy decisions in various city corporations rather than merely carrying out routine responsibilities. Decisions such as determining which areas fall under the jurisdiction of a city corporation are beyond the authority of appointed administrators. The Appellate Division explicitly directed that unelected persons should only perform day-to-day routine duties. Yet the appointed administrators appear unconcerned even with routine administration.

According to the Bangladesh Supreme Court, “if government officials or their associates are appointed to run local government institutions”, instead of establishing genuinely autonomous local government bodies, “there would be no justification for retaining them as local government institutions” (Kudrat-E-Elahi Panir vs Bangladesh).

Nearly two years have passed since 5 August 2024, yet local governments continue to be run by unelected individuals. On the one hand, they lack accountability; on the other, they are imposing one policy decision after another in defiance of the Appellate Division’s directives.

There are currently no elected representatives in any of the country’s 11 city corporations, including Dhaka North and Dhaka South City Corporations. Likewise, 61 district councils, 495 upazila parishads and 330 municipalities are operating without elected representatives, being managed instead by government officials holding part-time administrative responsibilities. Only Chattogram City Corporation still has a mayor, though even there no councillors remain in office. Overall, local government institutions across the country are functioning without elected representatives, depriving citizens of expected services and causing public suffering.

Experts warn that unless elected representatives are restored promptly, the central government may face serious challenges, since government policies are generally implemented at the local level through elected local representatives. Under the law, city corporation elections must be held within the 180 days preceding the expiry of a council’s term. The first meeting of Dhaka South City Corporation was held on 2 June 2020, meaning its five-year term expired on 1 June last year. Dhaka North City Corporation held its first meeting on 3 June 2020, and its term expired on 2 June 2025. Running city corporations indefinitely through administrators without reasonable justification is unconstitutional.

Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said that local government elections will be held towards the end of this year. However, since 1991 it has been customary to hold local government elections immediately after parliamentary elections — a practice no longer being followed.

The first unconstitutional step regarding local government was taken by the interim government led by Dr Muhammad Yunus. On 17 August 2024, four ordinances were promulgated: the Local Government (City Corporation) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024; the Local Government (Municipality) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024; the Zila Parishad (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024; and the Upazila Parishad (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024. These ordinances created provisions allowing elected representatives to be removed in “special circumstances” or “in the public interest”, although neither term was clearly defined.

The ordinances effectively handed the government direct authority to remove elected representatives and appoint administrators. A notable feature of the four ordinances was that they allowed executive power to override all other provisions of the law. As a result, the government gained the ability to remove anyone at any time without the need for specific allegations, investigations or judicial procedures.

Prior to these amendments, the laws governing local government contained clear and conditional grounds for removing elected representatives. Representatives could be removed for remaining absent from three consecutive meetings without valid reason, engaging in activities harmful to the state or the council, being convicted by a court for moral turpitude, refusing to perform duties, physical or mental incapacity, misconduct, abuse of power, or being found disqualified after election. Failure to attend or convene annual meetings, or failing to submit election expenditure statements, could also result in removal under specified conditions.

There was also a structured process allowing councillors or members to remove a representative through a vote of no confidence. Furthermore, if criminal charges were accepted by a court, the representative could only be temporarily suspended pending the process. In other words, removal was previously conditional and process-based.

However, the Yunus government’s legal adviser drafted these ordinances despite their conflict with the Constitution. Prominent lawyer Shahdeen Malik described the ordinances as “bad laws”, saying: “They have established absolute control of the central government over local government institutions. This is contrary to the spirit of the Constitution.”

Recently, the BNP passed these ordinances in Parliament despite the fact that they contradict the party’s own declared principles of governance.

Point 21 of the BNP’s 31-point reform agenda states that local government institutions should be autonomous and empowered as part of decentralisation efforts. It further pledges that no government administrators would be appointed to local government bodies except in cases of death or court-ordered vacancy, and that elected local government representatives would not be removed or suspended through executive orders unless convicted by a court. The BNP made similar commitments in its election manifesto.

Yet after coming to power, the BNP has ignored its own 31-point commitments and is now running local government institutions through appointed administrators.

Since forming the government, the BNP has already appointed administrators to 56 district councils and all 11 city corporations, including the two in the capital. All of the appointees are BNP leaders. Various political parties and organisations have criticised these politically motivated appointments to key local government institutions and have demanded that power be handed back to elected representatives through immediate local government elections.