The Election Commission (EC) wants the legal authority to include individuals in the voter list at any time of the year.
EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed shared this information with reporters on Thursday at the Election Commission building.
He said, “We have submitted a proposal to amend the existing law concerning the timeline for voter enrolment and eligibility. In the proposal, we stated that the commission, based on logical judgement, can decide when a person may be included in the voter list. The decision on this timing will be taken in the commission meeting.”
The EC secretary added, “The basis of this logical judgement will be decided by the commission. However, it may naturally depend on when the election will be held, considering related factors like the announcement of the election schedule, allocation of election symbols and other related issues. We have sent the proposed amendment to the Ministry of Law.”
Currently, the draft voter list is published on 2 January. After handling claims and objections, the final list is published on 2 March. This means that anyone who becomes eligible after 1 January cannot be included in the voter list throughout that year. If the law is amended, the commission will be able to enrol new voters at any time.
Regarding political party registration, the EC secretary said 147 applications have been received. Due to multiple applications from some parties, 144 distinct parties have applied. Twenty officers have been assigned to conduct preliminary reviews of these applications.
He added that the number of electoral symbols will be increased, which will require amending the election schedule. However, the “Scale” symbol has already been re-allocated to Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami as per the court order.
In response to another question, Akhtar Ahmed said election preparations are an ongoing process and all necessary activities are underway.
LND/SAE
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