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The Election Commission (EC) will exchange views with the senior officials of ministries, departments, directorates, agencies and authorities with connections to preparations for the 13th national parliamentary election.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin will preside over the meeting at the Nirbachan Bhaban in Dhaka’s Agargaon on Thursday afternoon, reports bdnews24.com.
Four election commissioners and the EC secretary will also attend.
The meeting is being held as part of the overall preparations for the elections, including the announcement of the schedule, maintenance of a peaceful law-and-order situation, collecting information on loan defaulters, sending the vote-counting slips to the EC in special envelopes from the polling stations through the Post Office, and the appointment of executive magistrates.
The EC is also working on a range of issues, including the voter list, boundary demarcations, party registration, legal reforms, finalising potential polling stations, issuing policies and regulations, discussions, equipment procurement, training, the postal ballot voting system and campaigning.
The parliamentary elections are to be held in the first half of February before Ramadan next year. The Election Commission is already carrying out preparatory work based on its announced roadmap. The full schedule is expected to be announced in the first half of December.
The letter sent to 31 ministries and departments for the inter-ministerial meeting stated that the meeting, aimed at exchanging views and pre-planning, is being held to ensure the general election can be held in a “free, participatory and fair” manner.
The cabinet secretary, governor, senior secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, senior secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, senior secretary of the Ministry of Shipping, senior secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, the foreign secretary, secretary of the Cabinet Division's Coordination and Reforms, finance secretary, secretary of the Health, Education and Family Welfare Division, secretary of the Law and Justice Division, secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, secretary of the Local Government Division, secretary of the Financial Institutions Division, secretary of the Power Division, secretary of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, secretary of Agriculture, secretary of the Secondary and Higher Education Division, secretary of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, secretary of the Posts and Telecommunication Division, secretary of the Information and Communication Technology Division, secretary of the Technical and Madrasa Education Division, secretary of the Road Transport and Highways Division, and secretary of the National Parliament Secretariat have been requested to attend the meeting.
In addition, the director general of the Post Office, the director general of the Film and Publication Department, the director general of Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar, the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority, the chief engineer of the Local Government Engineering Department, the chief engineer of the Education Engineering Department, and the inspector general of Prisons of the Prisons Department have also been invited.
Just as the manpower of these ministries and departments is needed for the elections, the employees of these agencies are involved in the overall work, from announcing the schedule to collecting nomination papers, from selection to transport of election materials, transporting and collecting ballot papers from expatriate Bangladeshis, to voting day and the counting and publication of results.
EC officials said that they will provide instructions at the inter-ministerial meeting to ensure that all necessary steps are taken before, during, and after the scheduled polls, on election day, and until the end of voting, to prevent any issues.