Additional Secretary of the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat Ashok Kumar Debnath today said that European Union (EU) will observe the situation before and after the 12th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) elections slated for January 7.

He said this while talking to journalists after a meeting between a four-member delegation of the EU and the officials of the EC at the Nirbachan Bhaban here.

“The delegation will stay in Bangladesh till January 23 and travel across the country to observe different issues, including violence,” the EC official said, adding that the EU team will monitor everything before and after the elections.

The EU delegation wanted statistics over how many political parties joined the polls, how many aspirants submitted nomination papers to vie in the polls and the total number of candidates, Debnath said, adding that it will keep an eye on the breaching of the electoral code of conduct too.

The delegation members requested the EC to provide them with the English translations of the electoral laws while some of them have already been provided to them, he said, adding that the EU may increase the number of delegation members.

Replying to a question from journalists over the Awami League’s (AL) rally on December 10, Debnath said, according to law, AL has to take permission from the EC to hold the rally.

The EC is yet to get any letter from the ruling party regarding the rally, he added.
-BSS.