Election Commission Secretary Akhtar Ahmed says
A day after a National Citizen Party (NCP) leader accused the Election Commission (EC) of becoming "spineless", EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed today said, "If EC lacks a backbone, how am I standing?"
"Political statements are not our area. We deal with administrative matters. So far, I am standing straight. Pray that I can continue to stand this way," he said this while speaking to reporters at the EC headquarters in Dhaka.
Asked whether everything [election preparation] would be completed by October, he said some tasks may remain pending but could be addressed later.
According to Akhtar Ahmed, a revised voter list -- updated through door-to-door visits -- will be published on August 10. It will add about 44 lakh previously unlisted voters and remove deceased ones. Claims and objections will be resolved, and the final list will be published by August 31. A supplementary list will be released one month before the polls, as per the amended law. The current list, last updated on March 2, includes over 12.37 crore registered voters.
Regarding the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies, Akhtar said the draft boundaries for all 300 constituencies have already been published. Claims and objections can be submitted until August 10, after which final boundaries will be decided by the end of the month.
Applications for observer organisations have also been invited, and the process will be completed according to rules if submissions are received by August 10.
On legal and regulatory reforms, the EC has initiated updates to several frameworks, including the Parliamentary Constituency Law Ordinance, the Voter List Amendment Ordinance, polling centre policies, and regulations for both local and foreign observers. A meeting scheduled for Thursday will finalise proposed amendments to the Representation of the People Order (RPO) and the code of conduct for political parties.
Three additional laws are awaiting vetting at the Law Ministry's Legislative Wing: amendments to the Election Conduct Rules, Special Provisions for Election Officers, and the EC Secretariat Act. Once cleared, these will be sent to the Advisory Council. Efforts are also being made to include safeguards in the code of conduct to prevent misuse of AI during elections.
Training for election officials is progressing, and the election manual is being finalised. Procurement of all election materials, including transparent ballot boxes and other equipment, is set to be completed by September 30. Existing ballot boxes will be checked and verified for use.
The EC is also working on a Tk 48-crore, two-year project to enable expatriate Bangladeshis to vote by postal ballot. A platform for registering overseas voters is under development.
Meanwhile, a seven-member EU delegation -- comprising three foreign and four local observers -- is expected to visit mid-September to assess the election atmosphere. The EC was informed of the visit by the Foreign Ministry yesterday.
