There will be no referendum in the elections for the Bogra-6 and Sherpur-3 constituencies. Election Commission (EC) Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed disclosed this to journalists after a meeting with law-enforcement agencies.
On Wednesday, he briefed media personnel following the meeting held at the Election Building in Agargaon, Dhaka.Akhtar Ahmed said, “The elections for Bogra-6 and Sherpur-3 constituencies will be held on April 9. Voting will take place from 7:30am to 4:30pm on that day. The issue of a referendum will not arise here. A referendum had been held in the Bogra constituency, but the referendum votes related to Sherpur will in no way influence the outcome of this election. Therefore, we are not including a referendum there. We are proceeding directly with the election.”
He further said, “We will move forward with the same deployment plan that was followed during the national election held on February 12. The only difference will be the coordination of additional resources. However, if the returning officer or the concerned law-enforcement cell deems it necessary, the use of body-worn cameras and the security app may be increased.”
Regarding the deployment of law-enforcement agencies, he said, “As before, members of the Ansar force will be deployed for eight days. In addition, BGB, the army and other forces will remain on the ground according to their scheduled timeframe. The Electoral Inquiry Committee and executive magistrates have already started their work in the field. So far, we have not received any objectionable information.”
The EC secretary said, “Those whose candidacies or nomination papers were cancelled have not filed any appeals so far. Therefore, we will be able to say how many candidates are contesting in each constituency after the withdrawal period.”
On postal ballots, he said, “Votes from expatriates are also included here. Both OCV and ICV arrangements have been kept. OCV ballots for expatriates will begin to be sent from Thursday (March 12). The ICV voting will start on March 23 and 24.”
He added that arrangements will also be made to preserve video footage at polling centres during the election so that it can be reviewed or investigated in the future if necessary.
Regarding the publication of results, Akhtar Ahmed said the result management system will remain the same as before. “However, this time there are only two constituencies. One constituency has around 150 polling centres, while the other has slightly fewer. Therefore, there should be no delay in announcing the results. Since there is no referendum this time, but there are postal votes, the quicker the postal votes can be confirmed, the sooner the results can be announced.”
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