C T Online Desk: The EC has divided its poll-related activities under 24 priority areas to hold the election in a peaceful manner.
The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday unveiled a roadmap for the 13th parliamentary election, likely to be held in early February next year.
The EC has divided its poll-related activities under 24 priority areas, which include constituency demarcation, voter list updating, new political party registration and approving poll observers, said EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed.
While addressing a press conference held at the commission office in Agargaon area of Dhaka this afternoon, he announced the roadmap, saying that the election schedule will be announced in the first half of December and the election will be held in the first half of February next year.
According to the roadmap, the registration of new political parties will be completed by 14 September, with the final gazette notification due by 30 September.
The delimitation of parliamentary constituencies will also be finalised, with the gazette publication slated for 15 September and the GIS-based constituency maps to be made public on 30 September.
Dialogue with registered political parties and other stakeholders will begin in the last week of September, while the final voter list will be published on 30 November.
The EC will also publish the final list of polling stations on 5 October, with the official gazette to be released 25 days before election day.
The commission aims to finalise the registration of local election observers by 15 November, while international observers and journalists will also receive clearance by the same date.
Preparations for postal ballots are being arranged, with ballots for prisoners to be dispatched two weeks prior to election day and for expatriates to be completed through a postal ballot system by January 2026.
The printing of election manuals, guidelines and posters will be finished by 15 September, while training programmes for election officials will run from 29 August until four to five days before voting.
Transparent ballot papers will be prepared by 30 November and the collection and distribution of all election materials will conclude by 31 December.
The election budget will be finalised on 15 November, followed by a series of inter-ministerial meetings on fund allocations for law enforcement between November 16 and 20.
The first meeting on overall law and order will take place on 25 September, with further steps to follow in phases.
An inter-ministerial meeting on election preparations is also scheduled for 31 October, by which time all ICT-related work is expected to be completed.
The EC has also announced plans to intensify public awareness campaigns, which will be completed by 30 November, alongside efforts to ensure uninterrupted telecommunications services for election result transmission.
