The Election Commission may change the polls schedule in case of a consensus between the two major parties, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said on Tursday.
“We have announced the election date early. If political parties reach a consensus even now, the commission has no objection to rescheduleing of the dates,” CEC Rakibuddin told reporters.
Election Commissioner Md Shah Newaz told the Dhaka Tribune that the commission had opted for an early announcement of the polls schedule keeping the possibility of rescheduling to get all the parties in the polls.
The EC last time rescheduled polls three times to make the BNP agree to hold a fully participatory election; the election finally took place on December 29, 2008.
However, many alleged that the announcement of the polls schedule earlier than expected was apparently a tactic to put pressure on the BNP-led opposition parties, especially the smaller ones, to take part in the elections.
Political analysts say election is a key to Bangladesh’s political process. So, the parties staying out of the polls will face hurdles to keep themselves united for a long movement against the government.
“Certainly this [declaration of the schedule] is a pressure on us. I think the Election Commission will have to announce a fresh schedule,” Andaleeve Rahman Partho, chief of Bangladesh Jatiya Party, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Leaders of the ruling Awami League say the early polls schedule would create a division among the BNP-led opposition. Politics of some smaller parties like the Bangladesh Jatiya Party and the Liberal Democratic Party are very much concentrated on one or two seats.
“If a single component party leaves and contests the polls under the interim government headed by Sheikh Hasina, it will demoralise the BNP,” said an Awami League leader.
Andaleeve alleged some of the ministers and MPs wanted to hold a one-sided election early as they were sure of “losing” in case the BNP participated in the polls. Andaleeve’s BJP is one of the components of the BNP-led 18-party alliance and he is the only MP from his party.
Political analyst Nazim Kamran Chowdhury said: “I think the Election Commission has announced the polls schedules to hold the polls hastily.”
“It will not make any difference if the BNP opts out of the polls, even if the smaller parties leave the alliance,” said Nazim Kamran, a former BNP lawmaker.
In the last parliamentary polls, the commission first decided to hold the elections on December 18 and later shifted to December 29 as the BNP gave its nod to contest.
The commission, headed by ATM Shamsul Huda, stretched the date for submitting nomination papers from November 9 to November 20, November 23 and finally to November 30.
The BNP wanted to hold the polls on December 27 while the Awami League wanted it on December 28. The commission fixed December 29 for the polls.