Ahead of the upcoming 13th National Parliamentary Election, the Election Commission (EC) is set to begin its series of election dialogues with representatives of civil society, intellectuals, and academics starting today, Sunday (September 28).
On Saturday (September 27), Md. Asadul Haque, Assistant Director of the EC’s Public Relations Wing, confirmed the information.
According to him, the first session will take place from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm with 30 members of the civil society and intellectual community. Later, from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm, the EC will sit with 33 academics.
He also mentioned that the dialogue sessions will be broadcast live on the EC’s official Facebook page and YouTube channel (@BangladeshECS).
In addition, the EC plans to hold dialogues in mid-October with registered political parties, women representatives, freedom fighters, and media professionals.
Currently, there are 52 registered political parties with the EC, including the Awami League. The party registration system was introduced in 2008 before the 9th parliamentary election. Since then, 56 parties were registered, but the registration of five parties—including Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Freedom Party, United Citizens Movement, PDP, and Jatiya Ganotantrik Party (Jagpa)—was later revoked due to failure to meet requirements or court orders.
Recently, a court restored the registration of Jamaat-e-Islami and Jagpa, though the EC has so far only reinstated Jamaat’s registration. Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Labour Party has received fresh registration by court order.
