The Election Commission has made preparations to announce the schedules of the 10th parliamentary election by the last week of November.
The commission on Thursday sent a letter to the president seeking appointment for a meeting to inform him about the overall preparations and getting suggestion about a suitable date of announcing the schedules, said an EC official.
The chief election commissioner and the four election commissioners might meet President Abdul Hamid this week, the official also said.
Meanwhile, the commission on Saturday sent another letter to the BG Press asking it to print nomination forms for the polls.
In a closed door meeting held on Thursday, the full commission discussed the possible options of announcing the polls.
The commission reportedly thought that the last week of November would be appropriate for announcing schedules.
“The third week of November is very important. By then it will be clear what will happen and what we will do during this time. We will let people know about our decision,” Election Commissioner Mohammad Abu Hafiz told the Dhaka Tribune on Saturday.
The election commissioner added that the countdown to election had already started on October 27.
EC officials said the commission would send around 40,000 nomination forms to its field-level offices this week after the printing was done.
Meanwhile, Suratuzzaman Selim, director general of the EC’s National Identity Registration Wing, claimed that the preparations for the technicalities had been nearly complete. He said the printing of voter lists and distribution of around seven million national identity (NID) cards were at its last stages.
However, the Dhaka Tribune ran a story on November 13 which said more than six million newly registered voters in the country well still to get their NID cards.
Selim said the remaining work would be completed before the announcement of the poll schedule.
The EC has also finished distributing an additional 40,000 transparent ballot boxes and 1.2 million locks to its 10 regional offices.