Shakhawat Liton

The Jatiya Oikyafront and the BNP-led 20-party alliance will initially field multiple candidates all the 300 constituencies to avoid the risk of going to the polls without their contenders in some seats.

The Election Commission seems to have misread the electoral code of conduct and issued discriminatory instructions to police, resulting in Wednesday's clashes between BNP men and the law enforcers.

Surprising as it may seem to many, President Abdul Hamid has legal authority to play a significant role in ensuring that the next parliamentary election is held in a free and fair manner.

The Awami League looks all set to lead the largest electoral alliance ever to take on its archrival BNP and main opposition party and combines in the high-stake December election.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who has been in jail since February 8 for conviction in a graft case, wants to contest the upcoming parliamentary polls from three constituencies, and nomination forms were bought for her yesterday.

The Jatiya Oikyafront and the BNP-led 20 party alliance have formally announced their decisions to join the upcoming parliamentary election but demanded that the Election Commission defer the December 23 polls by a month.

The BNP-led 20-party combine and Jatiya Oikyafront have decided in principle to join the upcoming national election but they will request the Election Commission to defer the polls, insiders say.

The root of the present crisis over the parliamentary polls lies in the Supreme Court's verdict on the 13th constitutional amendment case which declared the election-time non-partisan caretaker government system unconstitutional. And the solution to the crisis, to a large extent, also lies in the SC verdict.

The ruling Awami League appears to have ignored the electoral law and its own charter in the nomination process for parliamentary candidates in the next national election as the party didn't allow its grassroots leaders to make preliminary selection of contenders.

A candidate can spend Tk 10 per voter for electioneering in the upcoming parliamentary polls. His/her total spending, however, in no way can exceed Tk 25 lakh, the ceiling of maximum expenditure, even if the number of voters in a constituency is more than 2.5 lakh, according to a notification issued by the Election Commission.

Claiming there is a congenial atmosphere for polls across the country, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda yesterday announced that the 11th parliamentary election will be held on December 23.

The weeklong talks between the ruling alliance and opposition parties ended yesterday, but all the major contentious issues that have created uncertainty ahead of the election remain unsettled.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who wrapped up weeklong dialogues with political parties on the next parliamentary polls yesterday, had been part of the eventful history of both successful and failed talks.

The Election Commission seems to be in an unusual hurry to announce the schedule for the next parliamentary polls.

The state of politics in the run up to the upcoming parliamentary polls looks quite different from what prevailed in 2006 and 2013. The first week of the 90-day timeframe from October 31 for holding the polls saw some positive signs like talks between the ruling and opposition parties and deferral of the election schedule by the Election Commission.

Awami League-led 14-party alliance will hold talks with Jatiya Oikyafront for the second time at the prime minister’s official residence Gono Bhaban in Dhaka on November 7.

A number of Supreme Court verdicts in cases related to Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad seem to have the answer to a million-dollar question: Is the BNP chairperson eligible to contest the upcoming parliamentary polls?

As Hefajat-e Islam activists turned increasingly violent and kept Motijheel occupied for nearly 12 hours after their rally there on May 5, 2013, the law enforcers swung into action after midnight and drove them away. Following that show of strength, the Hefajat did not have to take to the streets again as the Islamist group got much of whatever it wanted through negotiations that took place away from the public eye.

Authoritarian governments should consider holding fair elections.” This intriguing comment by Mike Touchton, a professor of political science at Boise State University of Idaho in USA, is certainly worth pondering about. But why should such governments consider doing such a thing? “It just might invite more prosperity,” he explains in an article on the subject.

The High Court enhances the punishment of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia from five years of imprisonment to 10 years in Zia Orphanage Trust Corruption case.