Polls schedule in November

The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the next parliamentary elections in November, Election Commissioner Anisur Rahman said yesterday.

"We usually announce the election schedule 40-45 days ahead of the election day. The schedule will be announced on any day of November," the election commissioner told reporters at his EC office.

The EC is yet to hold any meeting regarding the election schedule, he said.

On July 27, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said the schedule for the 12th parliamentary elections could be unveiled in the last week of October.

Awal on July 30 said the schedule for the next national election would not be declared before October this year.

Yesterday, Anisur said this time, the candidates will get options to submit their nomination papers both online and in person.

"We cannot go for submission of nomination papers online fully as it will require amendment of law. There is also the issue of how political parties will react to this."

"But we will encourage online submission as it will decrease the incidents of showdowns that usually take place during submission of nomination papers," he added.

He said the commission has a desire to send the ballot papers to easily accessible polling centres on the morning of the polling day.

"We will do so keeping in mind the security of ballot papers so that no misuse of the ballot paper can take place," he said.

Asked whether the commission wants to send ballot paper in the morning to avoid any kind of debate that took place centring the last election, Anisur said they do not want to comment on this issue.

"We do not know what happened during the last election. We do not want any controversy. We want to send ballot papers in the morning for its security," he added.