The Election Commission (EC) has postponed all elections including the first phase of Union Parishad and sixth phase municipality elections due to the sudden surge in Covid-19 cases.
The commission also postponed the by-elections to Laxmipur-2 constituency, EC Additional Secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath told reporters at a press conference on Thursday.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the commission, he said adding: “The commission decided not to announce schedules for any more elections in this situation.”
The by-polls to Laxmipur-2 constituency, 371 Union Parishads and 11 municipalities were scheduled for April 11.
The decision came on the day when daily new Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh reached a new high of 6,469. THe country recorded 59 deaths -- the highest in nine months-- in the 24 hours to Thursday morning.
On June 30 last year, the health department reported 64 deaths from the virus.
Bangladesh has been witnessing an increasing number of Covid-19 infection and death with the virus infection for the past few weeks.