Election Commission wants to wrap up polls dialogue by October

The Election Commission plans to wrap up its dialogue over the next general elections by October, Acting EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed has said.

The commission started dialogue with registered political parties, election observers, experts, journalists, female politicians and representatives of the civil society on Jul 31.

It is done with discussions with representatives of the media and seven registered political parties out of the 20 that has been invited.

One party had failed to show up on schedule so it has asked for another date, said EC spokesperson SM Asaduzzaman.

A draft has been made for the commission to hold the second segment of the dialogue with 20 other political parties and experts, Asaduzzaman told bdnews24.com. “The draft will soon be presented to the commission.”

If approved, dialogue with the Jatiya Party and the BNP will be held on Oct 9 and 12 respectively.

The EC will sit with the delegation from the ruling Awami League either on Oct 15 or 16, according to EC officials.

The dialogue aims to exchange views with the different quarters over parliamentary elections due between late 2018 and early 2019.

Date	Participants
Oct 2	Bangladesh Muslim League, Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan
Oct 4	Bangladesh Tariqat Federation, Bangladesh Jatiya Party-BJP
Oct 5	Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal-BSD, Zaker Party
Oct 8	Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD, Jatiya Samjajtantrik Dal-JaSoD.
Oct 9	Jatiya Party, Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh
Oct, 11	Workers Party of Bangladesh, Bangladesh National Awami Party
Oct 12	Gonotontri Party, Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Dal-BNP
Oct 15	Communist Party of Bangladesh, Krishak Sramik Janata League
Oct 16	Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal (Marksbadi-Leninbadi), Bangladesh Awami League
Oct 17	Jatiya Party-JP, Liberal Democratic Party-LDP
Oct 23	Election inspectors
Oct 25	Female leaders
Oct 30	Election experts