Bangladesh Election Commission has hurriedly announced a lopsided schedule for the upcoming 12th parliamentary election when political crisis is looming across the country demanding holding the election under a neutral government.
Ignring the repeated call of opposition political parties, including BNP, not to announce any schedule for the polls before fulfilling their demands, chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on Wednesday announced the schedule.
The CEC’s announcement came when the opposition political parties including the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, are on street protests to press home their one-point demand for resignation of the government, dissolving the parliament and holding the next general election under a neutral government.
The CEC announced the poll schedule amid calls from the opposition parties not to announce the poll schedule until political consensus on the general election while most senior leaders of BNP were in jail.
The next general election in Bangladesh will be held on January 7, 2024, chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said while delivering speech to the nation in the evening, after holding a meeting with other election commissioners at the Election Commission headquarters in Dhaka.
Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar broadcasted the CEC’s speech.
