Adviser Asif Mahmud may resign today; Mahfuj Alam's position uncertain

LGRD and Cooperatives Adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan, who joined the interim government as a student representative, is likely to announce his resignation today (10 December) ahead of the national election schedule announcement, according to sources.

However, it remains unclear whether Mahfuj Alam, the other student representative serving in the interim government as the information and broadcasting adviser, will also step down.

The Election Commission earlier said it will announce the schedule for the 13th National Election today (10 December) or tomorrow (11 December), as the polls are expected to take place in the first half of February.

The EC has called representatives of Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar to arrive at 4pm today to record the announcement.

Before that, Asif has called a press conference at 3pm today at the conference room of the Local Government Division, where he is expected to declare his resignation, sources said.

Earlier, Asif had expressed interest in contesting from the Dhaka-10 constituency as an independent candidate. He has also applied to be registered as a voter in that area.

Meanwhile, BNP has nominated its executive committee member Sheikh Robiul Alam for the same seat.

Sources say that, ahead of the election, the BNP repeatedly demanded the resignation of the two student advisers in the government.

In response, the government's top level had advised both of them to step down by mid-September. As they showed reluctance, the advice to resign was reportedly repeated recently.