Dissolve parliament before polls

Bangladesh Kalyan Party and Islami Front Bangladesh demanded the dissolution of the parliament before the upcoming 11th parliamentary polls.

The parliament should be dissolved before the election for the sake of holding a free and fair election, said both the parties. 

In the morning, a 10-member delegation led by Kalyan Party Chairman Syed Mohammad Ibrahim held talks with the Election Commission (EC), presided over by Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda.

Emerging from the meeting, Ibrahim told journalists that they had placed an eight-point recommendation before the commission including army deployment 15 days before the polls. 

The other recommendations included finalising the demarcation of parliamentary constituencies through consultation with all political parties, enhancing EC's capacity, and ensuring voting rights of expatriates and security for the minority.

In a separate meeting later in the afternoon, Islami Front Bangladesh suggested that the commission should introduce Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and “no vote”

 system in the next election. Secretary General Syed Bahadur Shaha led the 12-member delegation.

The party placed a 12-point recommendation including dissolving the parliament soon after the announcement of election schedule, and holding the polls in three phases -- 100 constituencies in each phase.

The EC has already started holding dialogue with 40 registered political parties in different phases. So far, around a dozen political parties including the two have joined dialogue with EC.

Earlier, the EC also held talks with civil society members, editors and senior journalists. Most civil society members during talks with the EC on July 30 spoke for restoring “no vote” system and ensuring a level-playing field for all political parties to hold the next election in a free, fair and participatory manner.