Dhaka, April 24 -- Several key political parties - including Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the National Citizen Party (NCP), Islami Andolan Bangladesh, and the Gono Odhikar Parishad - have called for local government elections to be held prior to the forthcoming national parliamentary polls.

The demand reflects a growing movement to depoliticise local governance and protect it from the undue influence of national lawmakers and party agendas.

Public sentiment appears strongly in favour of this approach. A recent nationwide survey conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), commissioned by the Election Reform Commission, revealed that nearly 90 percent of the 46,000 respondents supported holding local elections ahead of the nati...