A dilemma over whether to start holding upazila elections before the upcoming parliamentary poll seems to be weighing heavy on the Election Commission (EC).
The commission finds itself between a rock and a hard place in negotiating the opposing demands of the military backed caretaker government and political parties regarding the matter.
The government is pressing for holding polls to as many upazilas as possible before the parliamentary election, while almost all political parties categorically told the EC that they are not ready to agree to holding of any upazila poll before the national ballot.
Meanwhile the EC announced yesterday that it will declare on Sunday the dates for upazila and parliamentary elections, making clear which one will be held first.
"It might be possible for us to announce possible dates for upazila and parliamentary polls on Sunday," Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda told reporters yesterday.
The CEC however made it amply clear that the detailed schedule for the parliamentary poll will not be declared on Sunday, as the final voter list is not ready yet.
But he did not specify whether the detailed schedules for upazila elections will be announced that day.
In the meantime, the EC has yet to even take any initiative for preparing the list of the electoral colleges that will elect the women vice-chairmen and women members to the reserved seats of the upazila parishads.
But the election law demands that the list is ready before announcing the dates for upazila elections.
Due to the incongruity in the EC's moves, its field level officials have not yet started to list the electors.
The electoral colleges are supposed to be comprised of women members elected to reserved seats of all union parishads and municipalities under each upazila, a task that will require at least a few days to be completed even in top speed.
On the caretaker government's request, the EC on August 25 decided to hold polls to 125 of the 482 upazilas on October 23, and to another 125 upazilas on October 27, sources said quoting from the minutes of an EC meeting.
It also decided to hold election to Dhaka City Corporation on October 30, the sources added.
The EC Secretariat was also preparing for the polls, but political parties' strong opposition is forcing the commission to rethink its strategy.
Almost all political parties that sat with the EC recently for the third round of electoral talks, including Awami League and its allies, strongly opposed the idea of holding upazila polls next month.
They argued that the move will hamper holding of the all important parliamentary election which is planned for December.
BNP and its alliance partners Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote, who boycotted the talks, also demanded that the EC holds the parliamentary poll first. They expressed their opinions in the letters they sent to the CEC.
Under the circumstances, senior EC officials are finding themselves rather directionless regarding the elections.
But some of them, who claim to be in the know, said the EC might concede to the political parties' demand, in a bid to break the stalemate.
At a meeting with the council of advisers to the government on Sunday, the EC opposed the government's plan for holding polls to as many upazilas as possible before the parliamentary election, sources in the commission said.
After much bargaining at the meeting, the EC finally agreed to hold polls to less than 100 upazila parishads before the parliamentary election, the sources added.
But the EC's latest round of electoral talks with political parties seems to have unsettled all that.
The commission had the latest round of talks with the parties hoping to settle the contentious issues of the parties' mandatory registration with it, and the timing of upazila and parliamentary polls.
The EC might meet the chief adviser again soon to discuss the new development in its predicament, the sources said.
On having the awaited talk with BNP, CEC Huda yesterday said the commission hopes to sit with BNP soon, as the process of releasing the party's detained Chairperson Khaleda Zia already started to roll.
The commission also already re-invited BNP to a dialogue, the CEC added.
He was talking to reporters in National Institute of Local Government (NILG) after the inaugural session of the Training of Trainers who will train field level polling officials expected to be on duty during the much debated upazila polls.
Field level EC officials participated in the training which was scheduled quite some time ago.
Addressing the trainees, the CEC reiterated the commission's determination to hold free, fair and credible elections.
The CEC asked the officials to strictly abide by the laws of the land and not to heed to any unwarranted suggestion from any 'organisation' or individual.
He advised the officials to stay alert during counting of ballots, so hijacking of ballot boxes and taking over control of polling centres by hooligans can be averted.