The Election Commission (EC) will sit down with representatives from 26 ministries and departments this coming Thursday (September 17) to discuss local government elections and the Thakurgaon-1 by-election.
The matter came to light through a related letter signed by EC deputy secretary Mohammad Monir Hossain on Monday. The letter has already been sent to the relevant parties.
It states that a preparatory meeting with various ministries, departments and authorities, held in connection with the election for the vacant seat in the 13th National Parliament’s Thakurgaon-1 constituency and elections to local government institutions, will take place this Thursday at 2:30pm in the Election Commission Secretariat’s conference room.
The meeting will be chaired by the chief election commissioner, with the other election commissioners in attendance.
The 26 ministries, agencies and departments in the meeting
The Cabinet Division; the governor of Bangladesh Bank (with a request to send the director of the Credit Information Bureau or an appropriate official); the public administration ministry; the home ministry; the inspector general of police; the armed forces division; the secondary and higher education division; the shipping ministry; the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry; the foreign ministry; the finance ministry; the law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry; the information and broadcasting ministry; and the local government, rural development and cooperatives ministry.
Also invited are the primary and mass education ministry; the posts and telecommunications division; the technical and madrasah education division; the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission; the directors general of Border Guard Bangladesh, the Coast Guard, Ansar and VDP, DGFI, NSI and NTMC; Bangladesh Post Office; the head of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit; and Bangladesh Bank.
Under the EC’s plan, Union Parishad elections will be held in mid-November, with other elections to follow. Separately, the Thakurgaon-1 by-election will take place on October 29.