Staff Reporter:

The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday (Sep 14) announced the road map to the 12th parliamentary elections in a bid to hold the polls in a free, fair and credible manner.

According to the roadmap, the election schedule will be declared in November next year. The election will be held between the last week of December, 2023 and first week of January, 2024.

Election Commissioner Brigadier General (rted) Ahsan Habib Khan unveiled the election roadmap at the auditorium of the EC this morning.

Election Commissioners, EC Secretary and other officials were present among others during this time.

However, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal was not present at the event due to his illness.

Some 15 months are left before the next general election as the EC is working with a plan to hold the election in January, 2024.

The EC took the decision to use EVMs in 150 seats despite opposition from nine political parties, including BNP and Jatiya Party, to the use of the device.

The commission currently has 1.5 lakh EVMs with which it is possible to hold voting in maximum 70 seats.

Therefore, 1.5 lakh new EVMs will have to be purchased to conduct voting in 150 seats through the device.

In the 11th parliamentary elections held on December 30, 2018, voting through EVMs was conducted in only six constituencies.