Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed has said the election date can be rescheduled if political parties reach a consensus over the issue. “The election date can be re-fixed if the political parties reach a consensus on the issue after resolving the present political crisis,” he told reporters in the capital Tuesday evening, a day after the announcement of the schedule for the 10th parliamentary election.
The CEC also said, “We are hopeful that we will see an end to the ongoing political impasse, and we have enough time to re-fix the election date.”
Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has decided to sit with representatives of different law enforcing agencies, including the principle staff officer of the army, on Thursday morning to discuss the law and order situation after the announcement of the schedule.
“We have sent letters to the principal staff officer of Bangladesh Army, the inspector general of police and directors general of different law enforcing agencies to discuss the issue,” EC Secretary Muhammad Sadik told The Independent on Tuesday evening.
Election Commissioner Jabed Ali said that army can be deployed any time after the meeting, if necessary, for ensuring peace and security and for holding a credible election.
“Although the issue of army deployment is not clearly specified in the amended Representation of the People Order (RPO), we can seek army assistance, if necessary, and the authorities concerned are bound to provide that during polls,” Jabed told the reporters at his office on Tuesday.
The election commissioner further said that for ensuring a level-plying field, the EC would ask political parties to remove their posters, billboards and stop showdowns within the next 48 hours.
“If anybody flouts the code of conduct, election officials can take action against them or can ask the law enforcement agencies to remove those,” he said.
Meanwhile, the EC Secretariat on Tuesday noon appointed returning and assistant returning officers across the country. The DCs of 64 districts and divisional commissioners of Dhaka and Ctg have been made returning officers while UNOs made assistant returning officers.
-With The Independent input
