Ahead of the 13th National Parliamentary Election, the Election Commission (EC) will release the final list of polling centers on Monday.
At the same time, the registration process for new political parties will be completed within this week.
Senior Secretary of the EC Secretariat Akhtar Ahmed shared the information while briefing reporters on Sunday after a meeting with a Commonwealth delegation at the Election Building in Agargaon, Dhaka.
According to the EC’s announced roadmap, the final list of polling centers was supposed to be published by October 20. When asked why it was delayed by six days, Akhtar Ahmed said: “The list of polling centers has been finalized. Some correction proposals were submitted, and those have been addressed. I will brief the media tomorrow (Monday) morning.”
In response to a question about when the registration of new political parties would be completed, the EC secretary said: “We’ve received some additional information from the field level regarding party registration, which is currently under review. We’ll complete the process within this week, as we have a responsibility to finish it.”
When asked about the symbol allocation for the National Citizens Party, Akhtar Ahmed did not give a direct answer, saying: “We’ll inform you about the symbol issue later.”
Regarding the overall progress of the EC’s roadmap, he said: “It’s not possible to complete everything 100% on schedule. Some adjustments had to be made based on the situation — some tasks were completed early, others had to wait, and a few will take a bit more time.”
He added: “Not everything can be done exactly by date and time. Adjustments are part of the process. So far, there’s no reason for concern or panic.”
When asked whether the EC would file a case over Saturday night’s cocktail explosion near the Election Building, he said: “The police have detained a suspect. The explosion occurred outside. If needed, the EC will file a case.”
Speaking about the meeting with the Commonwealth delegation, the EC secretary said: “They wanted to learn about our election preparations. We also discussed issues like expatriate voter registration, misuse of technology, and security during the election period.”
