Next general election by Jan 29, 2024 as EC unveils roadmap

The next general election will be held by January 29, 2024 using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in 150 constituencies out of 300 across the country, according to a roadmap published by the Election Commission, report agencies.
This was revealed at a function held at the auditorium of the Nirbachan Bhaban on Wednesday.
"17 parties out of 29 ones who participated in the recent dialogue gave their opinion in favour of using of EVM while 12 of them voted against it. The Commission thinks that it will be rational to use EVM as most of the political parties want it. The use of EVM in 150 constituencies will be rational for balancing the opinion of all parties, "said Election Commissioner Md Ahsan Habib.
He delivered the keynote speech as the chief guest in the absence of the CEC.
"The maiden session of the 11th national parliament was held on January 23, 2019. So we have constitutional obligation to conduct the 12th national polls between November, 2023 and January 29, 2024," election commissioner Md Alamgir said.
Chief Election Commis-sioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal could not attend the event due to illness but four other Election Commis-sioners along with senior EC officials were present.
The roadmap includes the challenges of holding a fair election, what the EC should do to deal with those, review the activities of the political parties, increasing the use of technology in election.
The EC said that no one has been able to provide proof of EVM rigging in all the elections that have taken place so far.
The roadmap says that a new policy will be made in January, 2023 to redefine the boundaries of the parliamentary constituencies. On the basis of which the Geographical Information System will be discussed with the relevant institutions and experts and the draft of the constituencies will be published in March, 2023. The revised delimitation of 300 constituencies will be gazetted in June.
The action plan informs that udates are currently in progress. The updated list will be released on March 2, 2023. With the announcement of the parliamentary election schedule, the voter list of 300 constituencies will be published.
The draft will be published in July, and the objections will be settled on the draft in August. After that, the Election Commission will publish the gazette of the polling stations 25 days before the polling.
The process of reviewing the activities of the registered political parties will begin this September.
The final list of registered parties will be published in June of the same year. Before this, registration of new parties will be announced in May.