Article 59 Elected local government in every administrative unit
Local government
Local bodies issue trade licences, collect local taxes and approve local works, so their democratic legitimacy affects daily life and doing business across the country.
Voters in each administrative unit elect councillors, chairpersons or mayors under the relevant local government law. Article 59(1) requires these bodies to be composed of persons elected in accordance with law, rather than officials appointed by the central government.
Parliament passes Acts setting out what each tier of local government does, such as union parishads, upazila parishads, zila parishads, pourashavas and city corporations, within the framework of Article 59(2) and subject to the Constitution.
Elected bodies plan and implement local public services and economic development, oversee public officers working in their area and help maintain public order. Residents can hold their representatives to account at the next local election.
If local bodies are run for long periods by appointed administrators, citizens can go to court. In the Kudrat-E-Elahi Panir case the Appellate Division required unelected persons to be replaced through elections within six months.
In plain English
How Article 59 works
Article 59 requires that local government in every administrative unit of Bangladesh, such as unions, upazilas, districts and city corporations, be run by bodies made up of elected people. Parliament decides by law what those bodies do within their areas. Their functions may include running administration and supervising public officers, keeping public order, and planning and carrying out public services and economic development. The idea is that decisions about local roads, markets, health centres and schools should be taken by people answerable to local voters, not only by officials appointed from Dhaka.
In practice
The Appellate Division in Kudrat-E-Elahi Panir (1992) treated elected local government as part of the constitutional scheme while accepting that Parliament may reorganise or restructure the system. Even so, administrators have repeatedly been appointed to run local bodies between elections. A March 2026 commentary in Prothom Alo noted that during the interim government administrators were appointed in several cases and that the tenure of all local government institutions had expired. Proposals to decentralise power were discussed in the 2025 reforms but remain proposals only.
The text
What Article 59 says
59. (1) Local government in every administrative unit of the Republic shall be entrusted to bodies, composed of persons elected in accordance with law.
(2) Everybody such as is referred to in clause (1) shall, subject to this Constitution and any other law, perform within the appropriate administrative unit such functions as shall be prescribed by Act of Parliament, which may include functions relating to –
(a) administration and the work of public officers;
(b) the maintenance of public order;
(c) the preparation and implementation of plans relating to public services and economic development.
English text as published on the official Laws of Bangladesh website. The Bangla text is authoritative (Article 153). Where a court has changed the position, the status note above explains it.
Landmark cases
How the courts have read it
Appellate Division · 1992
Kudrat-E-Elahi Panir v Bangladesh
44 DLR (AD) 319
Treated elected local government as part of the constitutional scheme of democracy, held that local bodies must be composed of elected persons under Article 59, and allowed the system to be reorganised by law while requiring unelected administrators to be replaced through elections within six months.
Case summaries are short descriptions for orientation, not a substitute for the judgment.
History
Amendments
- Twelfth Amendment 1991 →Chapters I, II and III of Part IV were substituted for the former Chapters I and II by section 3 of Act XXVIII of 1991, restoring the parliamentary system of government.
Connected provisions
Related articles
Questions
Article 59: frequently asked questions
What does Article 59 of the Constitution of Bangladesh say?
It says local government in every administrative unit must be entrusted to bodies composed of persons elected in accordance with law. Parliament decides their functions, which may include administration, public order and planning public services and economic development.
Can the government appoint administrators to run local councils?
Administrators have often been appointed between elections, but the Appellate Division held in Kudrat-E-Elahi Panir (1992) that local bodies must be composed of elected persons and required unelected persons to be replaced through elections within six months.
Sources
- Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Article 59 (Laws of Bangladesh)
- Prothom Alo English: Democracy and good governance: Why local govt elections matter (28 March 2026)
- Dhaka University Law Journal article citing Kudrat-e-Elahi Panir v. Bangladesh, 44 DLR (AD) 319
- The Daily Star: Upazila Parishad: Victim of power politics
This guide explains the Constitution for general understanding. It is not legal advice. Constitutional reform proposals under discussion in 2026 are described as proposals until enacted.
Constitutional and writ practice
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