EC to announce schedule of 12th JS polls in Nov next year

The Election Commissioner (EC) on Wednesday announced the roadmap of the 12th parliamentary elections to be held either at the end of 2023 or early 2024.

In light of the roadmap, the schedule of the 12th parliamentary elections will be announced in November 2023 and the election will be held either at the end of the same year or early 2024, said Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Ahsan Habib Khan.

Khan came up with the announcement while unveiling the roadmap at a programme held at the Nirbachan Bhaban in Sher-e-Banglanagar area of Dhaka this noon.

Other election commissioners were present at the function while Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal could not attend the programme on health grounds.

“We have become able to gain a bit of trust through our activities. We hope the next general elections will be held in a free, fair and impartial manner,” Khan said during the programme.

The main objective of the roadmap is to hold the next general elections in a free, fair and inclusive manner and to ensure acceptability to all, he said.

Apart from this, Khan said, “The roadmap will ensure our accountability and increase our responsibility to the people in holding the elections in an inclusive way.”

Taking part in the programme, Election Commissioner Md Alamgir said no recommendations inconsistent with the country’s constitution were accepted in preparing the roadman.

The next general election will be held fairly and credibly if it is possible to enforce the roadmap, he said.

Alongside the members of different law enforcement agencies, the army will assist to hold the election in an impartial manner, said the election commissioner.

What is in the roadmap?

• Rearrangement of parliamentary seats will be done from January to June in 2023.
• Registration for new political parties will have to be finished by September 2022 to June 2023.
• The release of the final voter list will have to be ensured by March 2023 and the list of 300 parliamentary seats will have to be finished soon after the announcement of the election schedule.
• The selection of polling centres is to be finished by June to August 2023 and a gazette will be published 25 days before announcing the election schedule.
• Registration of the election monitoring organisations will have to be completed by January to August in 2023.

The first session of the 11th parliament began on January 30 2019. In this context, there is a constitutional obligation to hold the 12th parliamentary polls by January 29, 2024.