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The Election Commission (EC) has backtracked on its preliminary roadmap for holding Union Parishad (UP) elections in seven phases, after the government said it was unaware of the proposed dates.
The EC had announced on Monday that the first phase of the UP elections would be held on November 12, with the polls to be completed in seven phases.
However, State Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam said on Tuesday that neither his ministry nor the government had been consulted about the proposed dates.
“We know nothing about this,” he said, adding that there had been no discussion with the government over the EC’s announced schedule.
Election Commissioner Anwarul Islam Sarker later said the roadmap was not final.
He said the commission had repeatedly made it clear during Monday’s briefing that the dates were only preliminary and that a decision would be taken on Thursday, September 17, after considering all relevant issues.
EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed later said the election dates would be finalised after an inter-ministerial meeting.
“We will hold a meeting with representatives of various ministries and those directly involved in conducting the elections. The commission will finalise the schedule based on their inputs,” he said.
Asked about the state minister’s remarks regarding the election roadmap, Akhtar Ahmed declined to comment, saying he did not want to make any statement on the matter.
He also declined to say whether the commission was embarrassed by the government’s reaction.
