Following pleas for rescheduling the upcoming general election by various political parties, the Election Commission (EC) has deferred the voting day by a week to December 30.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda made on Monday the disclosure at the inauguration of the EVM (electronic voting machine) exposition held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the city.
He said different political parties, including Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had officially been requesting to push back the schedule of the 11th parliamentary election.
"The commission discussed the matter this morning (Monday) and took the decision of deferment. We welcome all the political parties for their decision to take part in the general election," he said.
Under the revised schedule, the election will be held on December 30 and the EC will accept nomination forms until November 28 in place of previously decided November 19, according to the CEC.
Later, the EC issued a circular setting the date on scrutinisation of nomination papers on December 02 and candidacy withdrawal on December 09.
Backing the use of EVM in the election, the CEC said people were using technology in every sector to get quick service. "We're yet to use in the electoral system but we've to use it for better service," he said.
Calling upon the political parties who oppose it, Mr. Huda said the parties should send their technological experts and test it. "
Speaking at the event, Election Commissioner Rafiqul Islam requested people from all sections of the society to come to the exposition and give their opinions regarding use of the EVM in the polls.
"It's not a bad thing. We'll use it based on your (people) suggestions in the election," he added.
The change came four days after the EC announced the polls schedule for the parliamentary elections.
According to that announcement, the general election was set to be held on December 23 while scrutinisation of the nomination papers and withdrawal of candidacy were scheduled for November 22 and November 29 respectively.
The recently-formed new political coalition Jatiya Oikya Front (JOF) that includes BNP earlier at a press conference expressed their willingness to participate in the much-talked national election.
At the same time, it had also requested the EC to push back the polls by a month, allowing them to take some preparation before participating in the voting battle.
A coalition of some left parties was also requesting deferment of the polls schedule earlier.
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