Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal Saturday said the commission wants to exchange views with all registered political parties as these are prime stakeholder of election and democratic rule.
“We invited parties on short notice. If any party did not participate due to the time, we will try to listen to them as per the commission’s decision, if they want. We want to exchange views with all,” he said at the outset of the second session of talks with registered political parties at Nirbachan Bhaban at Agargaon.
The Election Commission (EC) invited 22 parties for talks in the first session in the morning and 22 parties in the second session in the afternoon to inform the parties about EC’s preparation for the 12th parliamentary polls and also receive recommendations from the parties.
Thirteen registered parties joined the talks but BNP and its allies didn’t take part in both sessions.
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal and the four other election commissioners were present at the meeting.
The CEC said the commission will have to do some task quickly as only two months left for the next election.
Awami League Presidium Member Lt Col (retd) Faruk Khan and Information and Research Secretary Salim Mahmud are representing the party in the dialogue, said the party’s Office Secretary Biplab Barua.
Ruling Awami League’s Presidium Member Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Faruk Khan today said the current environment is favourable for the forthcoming general election.
The EC has scheduled two dialogue sessions daily. The first one was held between 10:30 am 1pm and another one was held from 3 pm to 4:30 pm.
The Election Commission invited the presidents and general secretaries of the parties or two representatives appointed by them for the dialogue.
BNP and several of its allies, including the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Biplobi Workers Party, Bangladesh Kallyan Party, and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), have decided not to participate in the Election Commission dialogue.
The Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), which is not in any alliance, is also not participating the EC dialogue. Islamic Andolan Bangladesh, Khelafat Majlis, and Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis are among the Islamic parties that didn’t join the dialogue.
According to the constitution, parliamentary election must be held within 90 days before the end of the five-year term of parliament. The term of the current parliament ends on January 29, 2024 while the 90-day count starts from November 1, 2023.
The Election Commission said that it is preparing to announce the schedule of the national election in mid-November and hold the election in January.
Earlier, in July 2022, the EC held a dialogue with the political parties to prepare the action plan for the 12th national election while few political parties including Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) did not attend the dialogue.
