The third round of dialogue between
the Election Commission (EC) and political parties kicked off yesterday with
the demands for holding of the stalled general elections before the upazila
polls and declaring a specific date for the parliamentary elections.
The parties also demanded
for relaxing the conditions for party registration with extension of the
timeframe and withhold the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies before
the general polls.
On the first day, a total
of four political parties took part in the dialogue separately. The parties
are-Jatiya Party (Ershad), Worker Party of Bangladesh, Ganotantrik Party and
Bangladesh Samyabadi Dal (ML).
The Commission piloted
the third round of dialogue aiming at smoothing the differences brewing over
the schedule of upazila and national polls and registration of political
parties in accordance with new electoral laws.
The EC side comprised
Chief Election Commission Dr ATM Shamsul Huda, Election Commissioners-Muhammad
Sohul Hossain and Brig Gen (Retd) M Sakhawat Hossain and EC secretary Muhammad
Humayun Kabir.
During the dialogue,
Jatiya Party, which earlier demanded for upazila polls first, did a U-turn
saying that they have no objection if the parliamentary elections are held
before the upazila polls.
