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Fresh schedules today to break polls deadlock

CEC predicts IS polls on any day from Dec 27 to 29 after talks with AL; upazila goes to early January; EC to recommend lifting of emergency

Shakhawat Liton
The Election Commission (EC) will announce fresh schedules for the
parliamentary and
upazila elections today
in efforts to break the deadlock over
timing of the long-stalled poUs.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday said, “It's almost certain now that the national election won'tbeheldonDecember 18.’
In that case, he added, the election might be held either on December 27, 28 or 29.
He was talking to reporters after meeting the Awami League-led grand
alliance at the EC Secretariat in the evening.
The new election dates come when the closing date for filing applications seeking candidacy in both the national and upazila polls expires today.
Sources at the EC Secretariat said the commission would not give in to the growing pressure from the political parties to defer the December 28 upazila polls for at least a month. It would at best put back the polls by 10 to 12 days.
Besides, the polls chief said, the EC will make some recommendations for the caretaker government with regard to repeated calls from BNP- and AL-led electoral combines for withdrawal of the state of emergency.
Sources close to the EC last night told
The Daily Star that the EC might ask the government for lifting of the state of emergency to ensure the election is held in a free atmosphere.
Referring to the talks with AL and allies, Huda said, “We've mainly discussed new dates for the polls and lifting of the state of emergency."
He said, “They (Awami League-led coalition] will take a decision tonight (last nightl and inform us about it.”
Emerging from the meeting at around 7:15pm, AL acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, who led the sevenmember alliance team, said, “We will give our reaction once the commission takes the decision."
Later, the delegation briefed the grand
alliance leaders about details of the discussion.
The alliance adjourned its meeting to send the delegation for discussions with the EQ
Syed Ashraf said it is the caretaker government, EC and the four-party alliance who are mainly concerned with reschedulingof the polls.
"We are no party to the matter. We are preparing for the parliamentary polls on December 18 as announced by the Election Commission.” hesaid.
He said the whole nation hailed the plan for holding the polls on December 18.
"We have fixed our electoral strategy and planning for December 18. We have also finalised our election manifesto, which is now being printed." Ashraf said.
Speaking in return for anonymity, an election commissioner told Ihe Daily Star last night that the commission will now talk to Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed about the outcome of the latest round of negotiations with the political parties.
In line with the administration's move to ensure participation of the BNP-led alliance in the parliamentary polls, the EC had earlier proposed that it would shift the polls to December 28.