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Published : 21 Aug 2025, 04:41 PM
The Election Commission has begun meetings to finalise an action plan ahead of parliamentary elections, with officials signalling that a detailed roadmap could be unveiled before the end of August.
The meeting started at 2:30pm on Thursday at the commission’s headquarters in Dhaka’s Agargaon, with four election commissioners and senior secretariat officials convening.
The chief election commissioner was absent due to other commitments, while the EC secretary is currently in Japan.
“Since there are many components, it may not be possible to prepare everything and announce the roadmap today. In that case, we may need to wait until Sunday or Monday,” Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah said.
He added that once the commission’s internal discussions are complete, the progress will be reported to the CEC before finalising the roadmap.
“Only after that will the roadmap be announced,” Sanaullah said.
The process follows Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus’s Aug 5 televised address, where he pledged that the general election would be held before Ramadan next February. The following day, the Chief Advisor’s Office formally instructed the EC to begin preparations.
The CEC has previously stated that the election schedule will be announced about two months before polling day. After a commission meeting earlier this month, officials indicated the schedule would likely be declared in the first half of December.
EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed had earlier said that the commission planned to outline its action plan and announce the roadmap this week.
Commissioner Md Anwarul Islam Sarkar, offering a preview of the roadmap’s contents, said the aim is to complete the main preparations by October.
This would include finalising constituency boundaries, party registrations, accrediting observer organisations, updating the Representation of the People Order (RPO), issuing the electoral code of conduct, and updating the voter list.
The current commission, led by CEC AMM Nasir Uddin, took office in November 2024 following the change of power through the July Uprising. The other commissioners are Abdur Rahmanel Masud, Tahmida Ahmed, Md Anwarul Islam Sarkar, and Sanaullah, with Akhtar serving as secretary.
Since assuming office, the commission has worked on its election agenda while broader political reforms, including efforts by the National Consensus Commission, have progressed in parallel.
The voter list was updated earlier this year, raising the total number of registered voters to more than 123.7 million. Other preparatory tasks remain ongoing.
PROGRESS SO FAR
Voter list:
• Draft update published, covering nearly 4.6 million newly added voters.
• Final list due on Aug 31; supplementary list in October.
Party registration:
• Of 143 applications, 121 rejected, 22 parties remain under field-level scrutiny.
Constituency delimitation:
• Draft for all 300 seats published.
• By Aug 10, a total of 1,760 objections filed in 82 constituencies.
• Hearings scheduled for Aug 24–27, followed by final gazette.
Election observers:
• At least 318 organisations’ applications under review.
Representation of the People Order (RPO):
• About 44 amendments, major and minor, nearing finalisation; to be sent to the law ministry.
• Party and code of conduct already approved; will be issued after RPO reforms.
• Diaspora voter registration and postal ballot system under process; public awareness campaign planned once finalised.
Procurement:
• Plan to complete election materials purchases by September.
Roadmap publication:
• Drafting under way; expected to be announced this month.
• Covers dialogues, consultations, briefings, training, printing, budgeting, IT preparations, publicity, coordination cells, and inter-ministerial meetings.
Preparations planned for both pre-schedule and post-schedule phases.
