Election Commissioner Rashida Sultana on Thursday said it is not the job of the Election Commission to persuade someone to participate in elections.
“We can only reach out to them for a fair election, but whether they respond to our calls or not is totally up to them,” she said while talking to journalists at her office at Nirbachan Bhaban.
Asked whether the Election Commission will hold any dialogue with political parties ahead of the national election, she said dialogue is beneficial for smooth work, but there is no specific law for doing this.
“If necessary, we will obviously start a dialogue with them,” said Rashida.
About irregularities in polls, she said it is not possible to eliminate every irregularity from Bangladesh. However, she hoped that the irregularities would decrease a lot.
“We have the death penalty for murderers; but has it put an end to murders? No, it has not. Therefore, it is not possible to stop irregularities 100%,” she said.
Rashida said polls for five city corporations will be held before Eid-ul-Azha.
“After that, we will have to concentrate on the parliamentary election. Therefore, city corporation elections will be held between May 23 and June. However, the schedule will be fixed later,” she added.