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Download PDF The Election Commission (EC) yesterday extended the time for the ongoing field level work of correcting the updated voter list by three days–up to December 18, but was yet to re-fix the poll date.
The EC also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the European Union (EU) for the latter’s sending around 150 observers in three phrases to Bangladesh for the upcoming national election.
EC Secretary Abdur Rashid Sarkar told newsmen that a meeting of the commission yesterday took the decision to extend time for correcting the voter list.
Sarkar said the EC, however, is yet to take any decision regarding the polls date although both Awami League and BNP delegations on Wednesday requested the commission to change the date, proposing different schedules on different grounds.
He said the decision over re-fixing of the polls schedule will come on December 17 or 18.
On reporters’ query about a tentative date of the election, the EC secretary said the election commissioners are discussing ways to hold the polls within the constitution-stipulated period of 90 days since “there is little scope to go beyond the constitution.”
Asked about the ongoing process of door-to-door visit for correcting the updated voter roll, Sarkar said they are yet to get the whole picture. “The work is going on in full swing and we will let you know when it is completed,” he told journalists.
Replying to a question on two election commissioners’ going on leave, he said, “It is not a business of the commission. It is their personal matter.”
Sarkar, however, said preparations for the election will not be hampered if the EC is reconstituted by adding or subtracting one or two commissioners.
The EC secretary said the task for printing the voter list is almost complete and the lists will be sent to districts by December 17.
Asked how the EC will adjust the latest corrections, Sarkar said the inclusion and exclusion of names would be done manually.
EU SIGNS MoU
Stefan Frowein, head of delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh, yesterday signed the MoU with EC Secretary Abdur Rashid Sarkar.
After the signing of the MoU, Frowein said a 10-member EU team comprising specialists in politics and election will visit Bangladesh in one or two days.
In the second phase, another team of some 40 EU observers will come around five or six weeks ahead of the election for eight to nine weeks. They will talk to the people across the country and observe the whole election process.
The third team of around 100 EU officials will visit Bangladesh before the election. This team will work all over the country to observe the election only, Frowein told the press.
The EU will sign another MoU at the secretary level with the foreign ministry.
Meanwhile, a six-member Jamaat-e-Islami delegation, headed by Moulana Abdus Sobhan, member of the party’s highest body, Sura, met Sarkar yesterday afternoon and reiterated BNP’s demand for bringing the election forward by one or two days.
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