General election to be held across country a day

Staff Correspondent: Election Commission (EC) Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed said the next general election will be held across the country simultaneously on a day.

He said, “General election will be held across the country on a day according to the Representation of the People's Order (RPO).”

The EC secretary on Sunday came up with the statement in reply to a query of the reporters, after a meeting held with 10 regional and 64 district election officers on the occasion of 11th parliamentary election.

Earlier on Saturday at a programme of Tangail, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said, “The government has taken a plan to arrange the general election in phases across the country to avoid vote rigging.”

When asked about this, Helal Uddin said, “The election will be held in 300 seats on day according to the RPO.”

“I have heard the statement of Finance Minister. But the commission has not yet taken such a plan. We yet got no message in this regard from the government. So, till now, we have plan to hold the election on a day across the country. To hold the election in phases, it will need to ammend the RPO,” he added.

About Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), he said, “It was yet not discussed whether EVM will be used in the next general election. EC interested in using EVM in the upcoming local government and city corporation elections. We are making awareness about EVM among voters.”

risingbd/Dhaka/March 18, 2018/Hasibul/A K Azad