Zakir Hossain / Dhaka
Bangladesh’s Election Commission (EC) will release its action plan for the 13th national parliamentary polls within this week, Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said on Monday.
“A draft action plan, covering inter-departmental coordination and other issues, has already been prepared. It will be placed before the Commission for approval, and we hope to release it this week,” Ahmed told reporters at the EC headquarters.
He added that the monthly coordination committee meeting also discussed polling centres and National ID (NID) 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 nearly 80,000 correction applications so far.
On polling centres, Ahmed clarified: “We have said that the number of polling centres will not increase. However, this does not mean they will remain exactly as before. The number may still change.”
Regarding registration of political parties, he said letters are being sent to 22 parties whose applications have been sent for field verification. “Those whose applications were rejected are being informed with specific reasons. The rejection letters clearly state which conditions were not fulfilled,” he added.
On security, Ahmed said the EC had no concerns. “Everyone just needs to carry out their respective responsibilities. The EC is involved in election management, the field administration is working at local levels, and law enforcement agencies are carrying out their duties. The commission has emphasised advance preparations so there are no last-minute rushes or problems.”