EC to unveil polls action plan this week

The Election Commission (EC) yesterday said it will unveil its action plan for the upcoming 13th national election later this week, adding that the number of polling centres will not be increased.

"A draft action plan, covering inter-departmental coordination and other issues, has already been prepared. It will be placed before the [Election] Commission for approval, and we hope to release it this week," EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told reporters at the commission headquarters in Dhaka.

He said the monthly coordination committee meeting also discussed issues related to polling centres and National ID corrections.

"Applicants have the opportunity to appeal regarding NID corrections. We are trying to resolve these issues. If our data entry improves, the number of such applications will decrease further," he said, noting that nearly 80,000 applications have been filed for corrections.

On polling centres, the EC secretary said, "We have said that the number of polling centres will not increase. However, this does not mean that they will remain exactly as they were before. The number may still change."