Staff Reporter:
The chiefs of three services – Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy and Air Force– will meet Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on Sunday.
“The meeting will be held at 12:00pm at Nirbachan Bhaban,” said EC Director (PR) Ruhul Amin Mollik on Saturday.
Due to the meeting, the Election Commission shifted its pre-scheduled meeting over law and order from 10am to 2:30pm.
In the afternoon, the EC will sit with top representatives of law enforcing agencies and intelligences to review the overall law and order situation ahead of the upcoming national election and referendum scheduled to be held on 12 February 2026.
CEC Nasir will chair the meeting on law and order at the Conference Room of the Election Commission in the city.
Top representatives of the armed forces, the principal secretary, the home affairs secretary, the principal staff officer of the Armed Forces Division, the inspector general of police, directors general of Border Guard Bangladesh, the Coast Guard, Ansar and VDP, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), National Security Intelligence (NSI), National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), along with additional IGPs of Special Branch (SB) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and the inspector general of prisons are supposed to attend the meeting.
The major agendas of the meeting are to review pre-election law and order situation, the activities of joint forces to recover illegal arms and prevent terror acts, and the compliance with electoral code by candidates and political parties as well as the issues related to maintaining an election-friendly environment.
Four election commissioners will be present in the law and order meeting.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Saturday amended the election schedule gazette bringing change in the timeframe to file appeals challenging the decisions of the returning officers against the acceptance and rejection of nomination papers during the scrutiny.
According to the amended gazette, the appeals against the decisions of the returning officers can be filed from 5 to 9 January, while the appeals will be disposed of on 10-18 January.
In the original schedule, the time for submission of appeals was 5-11 January and the time for disposal of the appeals was 12-18 January.
Earlier on 11 December, the chief election commissioner announced the schedule to arrange the 13th parliamentary election and the referendum on the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order simultaneously on 12 February.
According to the election schedule, the deadline for the submission of nomination papers is 29 December, while the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is 20 January.
The election campaign will start on 22 January and continue till 48 hours before the balloting period (7:30am on 10 February).
