The Election Commission (EC) will hold dialogues with the registered political parties from July 17-31 ahead of the 12th general elections.
A total of 39 registered political parties including Awami League and BNP are being invited for the dialogues, Ashok Kumar Debnath, EC additional secretary, informed reporters at the Secretariat on Wednesday.
Responding to a query, he said no agenda is yet to set in the dialogue as it’s an open dialogue.
Each election commission holds dialogues with the political parties before the national parliamentary elections and this commission is also continuing that trend, he added.
The additional secretary said that the letter regarding holding dialogues would be sent to the political parties from Thursday and a total of 10 representatives from each party can participate in the dialogue.
EC has allotted two hours for holding dialogue for Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Party while other parties will get one hour each.
EC official also said that EC will sit for dialogue with the Nationalist Democratic Movement (NDM) on July 17 from 10:30am to 11:30am while Bangladesh Nationalist Front from 12pm to 1pm, Bangladesh Congress from 2:30pm to 3:30pm and Bangladesh Muslim League from 4pm to 5pm on the same day.
Bangladesh Islamic Front, Bangladesh Sangskritik Mukti Jote, Khilafat Majlis and the Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh will get the chance to sit in their respective dialogues from 10:30am 11:30am, 12pm to 1pm, 2:30pm to 3:30pm and 4pm to 5pm on July 18 respectively.
Bangladesh Kalyan Party, Islamic Oikya Jote, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis and Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal will sit for dialogues from 10:30am to 11:30am, 12pm to 1pm, 2:30pm to 3:30pm and 4pm to 5pm on July 19 respectively.
Ganatantri Party, Bangladesh National Awami Party and Bangladesh Nationalist Party will sit for dialogues from 10:30am 11:30am, 12pm to 1pm and 3pm to 5pm on July 20 respectively.
On July 21, EC will hold dialogues with Bangladesh Tarikat Federation from 10:30am to 11:30am while Bangladesh Jatiya Party from 12pm to 1pm, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal from 2:30pm to 3:30pm and Gana Front from 4pm to 5pm.
On July 24, EC will hold dialogues with Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan from 10:30am to 11:30am while Jatiya Party (JP) from 12pm to 1pm, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal from 2:30pm to 3:30pm and Islamic Front Bangladesh from 4pm to 5pm.
On July 25, dialogue will be held from 10:30am to 11:30am with Bangladesh Muslim League while from 12pm to 1pm with Bangladesh Workers Party, from 2:30pm to 3:30pm with Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal and from 4pm to 5pm with the Liberal Democratic Party.
On July 26, EC will hold dialogues with Jomiyote Ulamaye Islam Bangladesh from 10:30am to 11:30am while Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh from 12pm to 1pm, Islamic Movement of Bangladesh from 2:30pm to 3:30pm and National People's Party from 4pm to 5pm.
Bangladesh Jatiya Party, Zaker Party and Krishak Sramik Janata League will sit for dialogues from 10:30am 11:30am, 12pm to 1pm and 2:30pm to 3:30pm on July 27 respectively.
Gono Forum, Bangladesh National Awami Party and Communist Party of Bangladesh will sit for dialogues from 10:30am 11:30am, 12pm to 1pm and 2:30pm to 3:30pm on July 28 respectively.
On July 31, EC will hold dialogues with Jatiya Party from 11am to 1pm while Bangladesh Awami League will sit from 3pm to 5pm on the same day.