EC to dialogue with political parties from 17 July

The Election Commission (EC) is going to hold dialogues with registered political parties from 17 July ahead of the country's twelfth National Election.

According to the dialogue schedule released on Wednesday, all registered political parties including the BNP will be invited to join the dialogue, which will continue till 31 July other than on weekends or holidays.

Ashok Kumar Debnath, additional secretary at the Election Commission secretariat, told reporters there would be no specific agenda for talks at the dialogue.

The commission would organise the dialogue in keeping with previous commission practice of holding talks with political parties before elections, he added.  

According to the schedule, the Election Commission will sit with the National Democratic Movement (NDM) on the first day (17 July). It will hold separate dialogues with four parties a day at intervals of no more than one hour.

Except for the Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Party, one hour has been allocated for each party. Two hours each have been allotted for the aforementioned three parties.

20 July is set for BNP, and 31 July for Awami League and Jatiya Party. 10 members from each party can take part in the meeting.

Ashok Kumar Debnath said the commission will send separate letters to the political parties starting 7 July, with a request to join the dialogue.

Earlier, the EC had held meetings with political parties on using electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the elections.