acrimonious criticism against non-availability of fund for development of the province from the defunct legislature to the Union Councils.
Awami League.- The defunct Awami League has not been able to play any effective role during the elections. They have already been discredited and therefore could not influence the elections to any extent. The leftist group in the Awami League aligned itself with the NAP or the Communist. Some of the prominent supporters of the Awami League, however, contested the elections.
K.S.P. —The K.S.P. was always a loose and shifting party. After the dissolution of political parties it just melted away. As most of the members of the defunct K.S.P. belonged originally to the Muslim League they probably mentally re-identified themselves with the party and supported League-minded candidates during the elections.
Muslim League.— The defunct Muslim League generally supported the concept of Basic Democracies. As they had no well-knit party organization even before the dissolution of political p arties they have not been able to exercise much influence during the elections. One the other hand, however, as most of the people in the rural areas until a few years ago subscribed to the ideology of the Muslim League the majority of persons elected are more or less Muslim League-minded.
Nizam-e-Islam.— The ex-Nizam-e-Islam Party also generally supported the concept of Basic Democracies but were not able to get many candidates elected to the Councils.
Types of persons elected:
About 40 per cent of the members elected are of the type that used to be elected in the old Union Boards. Others are of a better type and more educated. Less than 3 per cent of the elected representatives are illiterate. Among the rest, majority are under-Matriculate and some with higher educational qualifications.
The largest group consists of Agriculturists. The number of people from small business and trade is the highest after the Agriculturists. In the past a much smaller percentage of elected members belonged to this category.
A small number of lawyers and professional men have also been elected particularly in the urban areas.
On the whole, the persons elected in the Union Councils are of a better type than those who used to be elected in the Union Boards. A few persons who have been elected in the Union Councils in Dacca are of high stature and status, viz., one retired Inspector-General of Police, one retired Principal of the Medical College and one retired Judge.
In the Union Committees however the type of persons, with few exceptions is inferior to those who used to be elected in the Municipalities. The reason for this is that the functions and powers of the Union Committees are practically nil, and if any, too vague and nebulous. The only attraction for the Union Committees was that one of the members of the Committees will be elected as Chairman who will be an ex officio
