Polls schedule after meeting president Nov 1
The Election Commission is likely to announce polls schedule following its meeting with President Abdul Hamid at the Bangabhaban on November 1.
Before Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda makes the announcement, members of the commission will hold a meeting to discuss different aspects of the 11th parliamentary election, said an EC secretariat official.
The EC is set to finalise and announce the schedule at least 45 days before the day of the polls.
The commission has called for an inter-ministry meeting on October 31 to discuss the election preparations.
As part of a tradition, the CEC and ECs hold a meeting with the president and talk about the overall election preparation and the election schedule.
“Following discussions with the president, the commission will hold a final meeting on November 4, before announcing the election schedule,” the EC secretariat official said.
The CEC will announce the election schedule in an address to be broadcast on Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar.
In previous elections, a minimum of 42 days were kept between the day of the polls and announcement of its schedules. Although it is not a rule, the EC will keep a “logical intervening period”, officials said.
EC Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed yesterday at Nirbachan Bhaban told reporters that the dates of announcing the schedule and the polls would be decided after the EC's meeting with the president.
According to the constitution, election for the 11th parliament must be held within 90 days of the expiry of the 10th parliament. Accordingly, the next general election will be held between Oct 30 and January 28.
Helaluddin on multiple occasions told reporters that the polls schedule would be announced in the first week of November and the election would likely be held in late December.
Briefing reporters yesterday, Helaluddin requested journalists not to spread confusion over the date of announcement of the schedule.
There will be around 600,000 polling officials to conduct the election in more than 40,000 polling centres. The number of voters will be around 10.5 crore.
There will be between 15 and 18 security personnel at each polling centre. Almost Tk 700 crore is expected to be spent for the election.
Comments