BNP said Friday it had received a letter from the Election Commission inviting the party to talks over registration of political parties, the deadline for which ends on Oct 15, reports bdnews24.com.
The letter addressing Khandker Delwar Hossain as the secretary general was sent Thursday, BNP office secretary Rizvi Ahmed confirmed.
The top election office is scheduled to sit with 16 political parties Sept 6-9.
Delwar told journalists Thursday night he would decide about whether to join the dialogue in consultation with the allies once they received the invitation.
In September last year in the first round of talks with the political parties, the EC sent the invitation letter to the standing committee-nominated acting secretary general Hafizuddin. The EC then communicated to M Hafizuddin Ahmed addressing him as acting secretary general.
The other faction led by Delwar then took the EC to court and the EC could not hold dialogue with the BNP.
The court asked the BNP factions to resolve the issue and the EC again invited Hafizuddin for the second round of electoral dialogue. It also invited Delwar but he refused to attend the talks on the grounds that the letter had not mentioned him as the secretary general.
Later, the EC wrote to him again addressing him as the secretary general and a delegation talked with the EC.
The EC will hold talks with the Bangladesher Workers Party, Samyabadi Dal, Ganotantri Party and Jatiya Party on Sep 6, and on Sep 7 with BNP, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Bikalpadhara Bangladesh and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu).
Jamaat-e-Islami, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Islami Oikya Jote and Jatiya Party are to sit with the EC on Sep 8 and the Awami League, Krishak Sramik Janata League, JSD (Jiku) and National Awami Party (NAP-Mozaffar) will go to the dialogue on Sep 9.
The EC has asked political parties to send a five-member delegation each to the dialogue.
