The newly appointed Election Commission (EC) is silently carrying out preparatory work for the 13th National Parliament Elections after taking charge.
The EC will make final move on electoral reforms after reviewing the reform commissions’ reports by January. The concerned committee will take measures to formulate the electoral law by February-March 2025.
In the meantime, the EC has issued a letter regarding voter list update for the upcoming elections and held a meeting with concerned authorities regarding the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies.
In line with reforms, the procurement work is also underway.
Law and rules reform committee head Abdur Rahmanel Masud, delimitation, election preparation, polling stations establishment, preparation and supervision of panels of polling officers committee head Md Anwarul Islam Sarker, administrative reform and reorganization and skill development committee head Tahmida Ahmad and NID card, voter list, election management information technology implementation committee head Abdul Fazal Md Sanaullah have held meeting with concerned authorities and institutions.
The officials of the Election Commission Secretariat are taking the work forward according to committee heads’ instructions.
Being asked about elections preparation, EC senior secretary Akhtar Ahmed told Bangladesh Pratidin: “Preparation is a must. We want the best, and will make it happen. We are taking preparation to arrange a good election. We are working in issues on priority basis.”
Meanwhile, the EC is arranging to publish the draft of the updated voter list on 2nd January, and voters will be able to correct their information in need till 17th of January. On the other hand, others have to apply, if they have any claims or objections regarding a voter list within the given time and EC will settle it within 30th of January.
Following the corrections, the final voter list will be published on 2nd March.
The EC said: “Senior assistant secretary of EC’s election support branch-2 Md Nasir Uddin issued an instruction to the field officers in this regard.”
The instruction reads: “The updated voter list will be published on January 2, and people will apply for corrections in need within 15 days starting from updated list publishing day. If anyone has any objection or claims regarding the voter list, they also have to place an application within the given time.”
“An election ‘roadmap’ is being prepared to complete the preparatory work for the elections on time. This ‘roadmap’ contains a series of activities before and after the announcement of the election schedule,” said the EC.
In this case, a time frame will be set for all the work, starting from the purchase of election materials to the publication of the gazette. Accordingly, the election preparations will proceed.
The EC secretariat has already prepared a draft action plan titled “Activities before and after the announcement of the schedule”. However, no time frame has been set in this draft. This draft will be presented at the formal meeting of the EC.
The commission will set a time frame for each work; in addition, EC officials are preparing a presentation on the overall action plan of the EC.
On condition of anonymity, sources said: “EC will officially finalize election roadmap after reviewing the report and recommendations of Electoral Reform Commission, as EC will have to amend the Representation of the People Order (RPO) and other election laws and regulations for electoral reforms.”
“Vital issues including law and rules reform, voter list update, delimitating of MP’s constituencies, new political party registrations, and discussion with political parties will be done on priority basis, ahead of upcoming elections,” the source continued.
Preparing budget for the national parliament elections is underway.
Another EC source said: “An action plan is being prepared to purchase necessary materials, including ballot paper, for parliamentary and upazila elections. A letter will be sent to the state-owned Karnaphuli Paper Mills (KPM) to keep the paper ready.”
“The process of purchasing election ballot papers and other necessary materials will also begin once the roadmap is finalized,” the source furthered.
Translated by Afsar Munna
