The Election Commission is likely to start sending transparent ballot boxes for the next parliamentary elections to the regional election offices today.
“We are likely to start sending ballot boxes to the regional election offices in preparation to conduct the upcoming 12th national parliamentary elections,” additional secretary of EC Ashok Kumar Debnath told Bangladesh Post on Saturday.
However, he said the commission would send ballot boxes to the field level after getting certified copies of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI).
“Hopefully, we will get the certified copy from BSTI Sunday. Then we will start the electoral equipment to the field level,” he also said.
According to the commission, more than 300,000 transparent ballot boxes will be required for this election. But the commission had 267,000 boxes. So, 80,000 boxes were bought new.
The EC received 40,000 boxes in the first installment.
The additional secretary said that the commission has sent electoral materials to BSTI for quality testing.
“The Commission will give the responsibility of security to the police while sending the materials. It is the responsibility of law enforcement to provide our security. We will seek assistance from the law enforcement agencies. They will provide proper security during field level transportation of goods,” he added.
EC officials said that the EC would send the electoral materials like ballot boxes, bags, pens and seals to 10 regional offices this week.
According to the Constitution, the national election must be held within 90 days before the five-year term of the parliament expires. The 11th parliament began its first sitting on January 30, 2019.
Meanwhile, EC officials said the EC has already completed the major tasks including updating voter lists and re-fixing of parliamentary delimitation ahead of the next general polls, amendments of the Representative of People Order (RPO) and the election related laws have been finalised.
Setting up the polling centres is also in the final stages. A draft list of 42,380 polling centres has been drafted. The final list of the polling centres will be published as a gazette when the polls election schedule is announced.
The commission has also given registration to two new political parties ahead of the election. Sixty six local organisations have been registered as election observers.
EC officials also said that training has begun for election-related officials. Presently trainers are being trained. Training of deputy commissioners, upazila returning officers and police officials has also been started.