Election Commission dialogue with political parties begins today

The Election Commission starts its dialogues with 40 registered political parties today to take their opinions over its preparation for the next parliamentary elections.

The Commission will first sit in talks with Sangskritik Muktijote at 3pm at the conference room of Nirbachan Bhaban in the city.

Earlier, a 10-member delegation of Muktijote was invited to join the dialogue to be held with Chief Election Commission KM Nurul Huda in the chair.

As per the EC’s schedule, the EC was supposed to sit in the first dialogue with Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF) at 11am on Thursday, but BNF has asked the EC to reschedule its dialogue saying that it would not be able to join the dialogue in the next one month due to the ongoing flood situation in different parts of the country.

BNF President SM Abul Kalam Azad, MP said his party leaders are scheduled to visit the flood-hit areas in Jamalpur on Thursday and they would distribute relief items among flood victims there.

“We’ve informed the EC that we cannot join the dialogue halting our relief activities for flood victims. We asked the EC to delay the talks with us at least by one month.

Director (PR) at the EC Secretariat SM Asaduzzaman said the Commission has yet to take any decision whether the talks with BNF will be rescheduled.

“So far, 12 political parties have been invited to join the EC’s dialogue.

Separate dialogues with two parties will be held in a day.

The first talks will be held at 11am, while the second one at 3:00pm everyday,” he told the news agency.

As per the schedule, the EC will also sit with Bangladesh Muslim League (BML) and Khelafat Majlish on August 28, Bangladesher Biplobi Workers Party and Jagpa on August 30, Bangladesh Islami Front and Islami Andolan Bangladesh on September 10, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish and Islami Oikya Jote on September 12, and Bangladesh Kalyan Party and Islamic Front Bangladesh on September 14.

The Commission will seek opinions from the political parties over different issues, including electoral law reform and delimitation of constituencies, updating voter list, fixation of polling stations and awarding registration to new political parties.

Earlier, the Commission held talks with civil society members on July 31, media representatives on August 16 and 17 as part of taking opinions of its different stakeholders over preparation of the 11th national election likely to be held in late December 2018.

The constitutional body will also sit with election observers, women leaders and election experts.

Source: dailysun