According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission, the polling for the 12th National Assembly elections will be held on January 7. The election campaign will continue till 48 hours before the start of polling i.e. till 8 am on January 5. Yesterday, since the allocation of the list, the candidates have entered the election field. After receiving the symbol, candidates published posters, banners, and leaflets. Online campaigns are also being conducted. Candidates have also started promoting their respective symbols by composing music to get votes. From Facebook, and Twitter to all the popular social media, the campaign is going on. The candidate's supporters are running from house to house. Election office is being prepared. The main opposition party BNP and the discussed political party Jamaat-e-Islami and their allied political parties are not in the polling ground, so the main message of the vote is not visible. However, some heat has been created in the field of encouraging party leaders to become independent candidates from the Awami League. In other words, independent candidates are keeping the polls heat. Analysts say that if the polls are ultimately fair, many popular independent candidates will have a chance to win. According to the sources of the Election Commission, 347 candidates have withdrawn their candidature from the 12th National Parliament election. As a result, there are 1902 candidates in this election. Among them are candidates from 27 independent and registered political parties. A significant portion of the finalists are independent. According to sources, there are several current parliamentarians on the list of independents.
They entered the polls as an independent without getting the party nomination. Meanwhile, yesterday, symbols have been allocated among the contending candidates. After receiving the symbol, the candidate is now in the field. On the other hand, the Election Commission (EC) has announced a ban on all anti-poll gatherings from this day to facilitate the campaigning of candidates. It is known that 263 parties are on the ballot. Among the 14 party alliance partners, Jasad, Bangladesh Workers Party, and Jatiya Party (JaPa) are voting on the boat symbol. In other words, apart from the Awami League, three parties are voting on the boat symbol. Other parties are voting on their respective symbols. And independent candidates are voting on different symbols. This time, among the individual candidates, the truck got various symbols, including the eagle.
Polling will be fair and peaceful, the commission expects
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal held a meeting with Japanese Ambassador Iwama Kiminori at the Agargaon election building yesterday. While talking to the journalists after the meeting, he expressed hope that the elections would be conducted in a free, fair, and peaceful way. He said all countries are looking into our elections, especially the donor countries. You call it pressure. That is why the government has repeatedly said that the elections will be free and fair. We also say that the election will be free, fair and peaceful. If anyone wants to resist it is their political strategy.
Our mission is to make elections free, fair, and peaceful. CEC said that an important party (BNP) is not participating in this election. You know we have been urging them to come to the polls since the beginning. Had they participated, the election would have been more inclusive and participatory. But what will happen if not, I am not going to that. In response to the question of journalists whether the election will be acceptable to the outside world if their coalition including BNP does not participate in the election, CEC said, "I will not comment on this."
The Army will be in the field for 13 days
The Election Commission (EC) has sent a letter to the Principal Staff Officer of the Armed Forces to deploy the armed forces ahead of the 12th National Assembly elections. The letter signed by EC Deputy Secretary Atiyar Rahman was sent yesterday. The letter said that the 12th National Parliament election will be held on January 7. The Election Commission has decided to deploy armed forces in 300 constituencies across the country from 29 December 2023 to 10 January 2024 (including travel time) to ensure peace and order control before polling, on polling day, and after polling.
Ballot papers will go to the morning of polling day
In the last election, the political parties, including BNP, who lost the polls, complained that the polls were held at night. This time, the ballot papers did not reach the center at night so the complaint did not arise again. Yesterday, a circular from the Election Commission informed that the ballot paper will reach the center on the morning of the 12th parliamentary election. According to the circular, security arrangements will be made for transportation and distribution of electoral materials and ballot papers will be sent to the polling stations on the morning of the polling day. Adequate security measures should be taken during the transportation and distribution of election materials including ballot papers, and ballot boxes from the Election Commission Secretariat to the district level from the district level to the upazila level, and from the upazila level to the polling station. The circular also said that for this purpose, necessary measures will be taken in consultation and coordination with the concerned law and order authorities including the Superintendent of Police. As per requirement, a special security plan for the transportation of electoral materials should be adopted from the Election Commission Secretariat at the division/regional or district level.
ARS
