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BNP knot in talks starts to untie fast

The party asks EC for dialogue in a day or two; EC hopes to announce dates for JS, upazila polls early next week

Shakhawat Liton
The Election Commission (EC) might sit with BNP in a day or two, and announce dates for upazila and parliamentary polls early next week.
In a major breakthrough. BNP yesterday asked the EC to arrange a meeting to discuss the electoral issues including the most contentious one that is registration of the political parties.
The party that has only recently agreed to join dialogue with the EC communicated its formal acceptance of invitation in a letter to the chief election commissioner (CEC)
at around 1:30pm.
“After the talks with BNP. we will announce specific dates for all polls." CEC ATM Shamsul Huda told reporters following brief discussions with a two-member BNP delegation that handed him the letter.
Asked if they will declare election schedules along with polls dates, he replied in the negative.
According to meeting sources, the polls chief told the BNP leaders that the EC is ready to sit with them formally any day between today (TUesdayl and Saturday.
In reply, BNP Joint Secretary General Nazrul Islam Khan, who
was accompanied by Office Secretary Rizvi Ahmed, said they will inform the EC about the date after consultation with Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain.
Both Huda and Nazrul said hopefully they will sit before the weekends.
The BNP leader said, “The talks might be held in a day or two.”
Despite queries from journalists, the CEC did not drop any hints whether upazila elections will precede the long-stalled ninth parliamentary polls planned for December.
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Asked if the dates will be provisional in nature, he said, "All polls will be held as per the dates to be announced."
"Should the need arise, election schedule would be unveiled a day or two after the announcement of dates," he said in an oblique reference to the debate over probable timing of the polls--local and national.
The major political parties including Awaml League (AL) and BNP have all alon^ been opposing the plans for holding upazila polls first.
At back-to-back meetings between advisers and the EC on Saturday and Sunday, the military-backed caretaker administration reiterated its backing for upazila polls before the national election, meeting sources said.
The EC told the government that it will not make the final decisions before the talks with BNR one of the two parties, the other one being AL, that ruled the country alternately since restoration of democracy in 1990.
The CEC on Sunday told reporters that they will strive to take decisions acceptable to all.
Last week, the commission held the third round of electoral dialogue with 13 political parties including AI. and Jatiya Party.
ButasBNPandits allies Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote stayed off the talks, the commission put off announcing dates for upazila and parliamentary elections.
Things began to change for the better with the release of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia Thursday. The party agreed in principle to join talks with the EC and the caretaker government
For time constraints, the commission will not hold third-round discussions with Jamaat and Islami Oikya Jote since both the parties had participated in the earlier rounds.
Irrespective of the dialogue outcomes, the EC would announce the dates for upazila, parliament and Dhaka City Corporation polls Saturday, said sources at the EC Secretariat
Officials at the CA's Office said immediately after the announcement of election dates, Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed might address the nation to outline his government's efforts towards parliamentary polls in the third week of December.
Now on a state visit to China, the CA will return on September 19. He is scheduled to leave Dhaka for the US on the night of September 20 and come back on September 29.
The talks between the caretaker government and BNP in that case might be delayed.
Boycotting the talks on September 7, BNP said it would not join any discussions unless the recently promulgated 'unconstitutional' electoral laws and rules are scrapped.
In a letter to the CEC, it also questioned the neutrality of the current EC. In its reply the same day. the EC re-invited the BNP secretary general to talks.
Referring to the electoral laws and rules including those on registration of the political parties, the BNP letter to the EC yesterday however said discussions are a must to resolve the issues.
In November last year, the commission invited pro-reform faction led by Saifur Rahman and Major (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed to the electoral talks. It then declined to recognise Delwar-led pro-Khaleda faction as the mainstream BNP
After that, the EC-BNP relations fell to their lowest ebb At one stage, the party leaders demanded that the CEC and the two election commissioners step down in the interests of a free and fair conduct of the national election.