Dhaka: The Election Commission (EC) has announced plans for a series of dialogues with key stakeholders in the lead-up to the upcoming national elections, slated to begin in the last week of this month. This initiative is part of the EC's roadmap for the 13th National Parliamentary Election, an EC official confirmed.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, invitations for these dialogues will be dispatched to participants seven to ten days before the dialogues commence. The initial discussions will see participation from representatives of civil society, women's organizations, and media personnel. The broader range of stakeholders will encompass registered political parties, university academics, civil society leaders, women representatives, editors and journalists, election observers, election experts, and war-wounded freedom fighters. The EC aims to complete this series of dialogues in about one to one and a half months.
Election Commissioner Anwarul Islam Sarkar verified that the EC plans to initiate these stakeholder discussions in the last week of September, as outlined in their roadmap. Presently, there are 51 registered political parties with the EC, but the registration of the Bangladesh Awami League is temporarily on hold. Concurrently, the EC is working towards finalizing the registration of new political parties by the end of this month, with a target completion date of September 30.
Senior Secretary of the EC Secretariat, Akhtar Ahmed, stated that documents from field-level investigations of 22 shortlisted political parties have already been submitted to the Secretariat. These findings are set to be compiled into a comprehensive report for the Commission's final decision. Ahmed also noted that amendments to the rules regarding party symbols are pending approval from the Ministry of Law.
He emphasized the importance of completing the registration process within the designated timeline to prevent any delays in executing the election roadmap. Out of 143 political parties that applied for new registration ahead of the 13th parliamentary elections, 121 applications were rejected after initial scrutiny, leaving 22 parties to undergo field-level verification. The EC has formally notified the rejected parties of their status.