Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad on Wednesday said they were prepared to hold the next parliamentary election any time within 90- day time frame stated in the constitution.
“Ninety days are enough for us for holding parliamentary election,” Rakibuddin told reporters after an emergency meeting at the EC secretariat in the capital.
“We have already completed major tasks of preparations for holding the polls. We discussed the preparation at the commission meeting and we are satisfied.”
He said the EC has already completed the “major tasks” including printing updated voter list and re-demarcation of the parliamentary constituencies.
However, he said collecting transparent ballot boxes from abroad was under process and that the necessary electoral equipments would reach EC in “due time.”
The commission would start to train around 600,000 election officials, he said. Kazi Rakibuddin said the EC would announce the poll schedule keeping 35-45 days in its hand to allow candidates sufficient time for campaigning.
When asked if the parliament completed its tenure of five years and no election was held before that what would happen, the CEC said: “In that case we would have no other option but to hold election within the time frame that we would have.”
However, he did not clarify what he meant by the “time frame.”
He further said the EC has to be prepared to hold elections on a sudden notice if situation warranted.
About holding dialogue with the political parties before announcing the poll schedule, Rakibuddin said there was no procedure to sit with the political parties before announcing the schedule. “If needed, the EC will sit with the political parties before announcing the schedule,” he said.
“The EC wants to hold the next general election in free, fair and acceptable manner with participation of all political party,” Rakibuddin said.
Referring to a new electoral code of conduct for the upcoming JS polls, the CEC said that the EC would prepare the electoral code of conduct keeping in mind the “level playing fields for all.”
About providing National Identity (NID) cards to new voter, he said the commission would provide NID cards to the new registered voters before announcing the polls schedule. The inclusion and exclusion of voters would continue till the announcement of the schedule.
