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Download PDF The Election Commission (EC) plans to announce schedule for the ninth parliament election in the last week of November while the voter list is yet to be ready for use in the polls and the political disputes over the EC have remained unresolved.
In a pre-election meeting on law and order situation with the law enforcement agencies, the EC yesterday asked them to keep peaceful the atmosphere ahead of the next parliamentary election scheduled for early January.
“The schedule for the next election will be announced in November. The Election Commission asked the law enforcement agencies to check any deterioration in law and order ahead of the polls,” Abdur Rashid Sarkar, secretary of the EC Secretariat, told reporters at his office.
But the voter list, which was updated during July-August amid enormous controversy over its flawlessness, is yet to be ready for use in the polls as the EC Secretariat could not start printing the updated list.
The EC Secretariat has, however, planned to complete the task for printing the updated electoral rolls by November 18 by awarding the vendors with the task by October 18.
“We are determined to complete the entire task of printing the voter list in a month,” the EC secretary said, adding that they are now preparing to award the printing task to vendors.
In case of the previous elections, the EC made the voter list ready at least five months before elections. This time, the EC started the process for preparing the voter list in July last year, but the EC was mired in controversies, ultimately failing to complete the task in time.
According to the constitution and the electoral laws, the EC will have to announce the schedule for next polls by November, as the next election must be held within 90 days after the tenure of the current parliament expires on October 27.
Officials at the EC Secretariat said the schedule is likely to be declared in the last week of November, as the printing task of the voter list is supposed to be completed by November 18.
But the major issues like appointment of the chief adviser to the next caretaker government and reconstitution of the EC have remained unresolved. The Awami League led 14-party opposition combine is rigid on its stance that it would neither participate in nor allow any polls to be held if the present chief election commissioner (CEC) continues and Justice KM Hasan takes office of the chief adviser of the interim government.
The secretary general level dialogue between the ruling BNP and Awami League is now going on to settle the disputes.
CEC MA Aziz led EC is supposed, if he does not resign, to announce the schedule of the polls fixing the polling date early in January, keeping at least 45 days’ gap between the announcement of the schedule and polling day.
The EC is likely to invite political parties to sit in a dialogue with it in November before announcing the polls schedule seeking their suggestions regarding holding the election, sources said.
The AL led 14-party opposition declined the EC’s invitation to sit in dialogue with it in July last year over the preparation of the voter list as the opposition combine rejected the appointment of Aziz to the post of CEC.
Meanwhile, CEC MA Aziz and three other election commissioners have remained silent about whether they would resign or not.
In a meeting attended by senior officials of the ministries of home, finance, and LGRD, and police administration, the EC discussed the present law and order situation.
“The law enforcement agencies assured us that they will take adequate measures to check any deterioration in law and order,” the EC secretary said.
He expressed hope that a free and fair election would be held in time with cooperation from all.
CEC MA Aziz chaired the meeting.
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