The BNP has submitted a 17-point recommendation to the Electoral Reform Commission, including changes to party registration policies, electoral code of conduct, and transferring control of the National Identification (NID) server back to the EC.

Addressing a press briefing at the BNP chairperson's office in Gulshan yesterday, Standing Committee Member Abdul Moyeen Khan outlined the party's recommendations, highlighting the significance for creating a level playing field.

"We believe electoral reform is the most important issue right now. Of the 17 points we've raised, 10 are particularly critical for ensuring transparent and credible elections."

For the 13th national polls, the BNP prefers "upgrading" the voter list over the method of "door-to-door visits".

"Honestly, we want a true and accurate voter list to be prepared. Instead of door-to-door campaign, we proposed using computer and AI … Today, if we give instructions to a computer, it can do the work on its own ... and it will be absolutely accurate," said Moyeen.

"A computer can even determine when someone turns 18. For that, there is no need to visit the homes of 18 crore people in Bangladesh. Door-to-door visits are extremely time-consuming, unnecessary, and prone to errors."

About the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies during the 1/11 caretaker government, the BNP expressed concerns whether there were any political motives behind it.

"Previously, the Election Commission controlled the NID server. The last government handed its control to the home ministry. We proposed that the control of NID server be returned to the Election Commission immediately," the BNP leader said.

The BNP has also suggested measures to ensure neutrality of government officials during the election process, Moyeen added.

"We have recommended that after investigations, steps be taken against those responsible for their misdeeds during the July-August uprising and it be ensured that they could not take part in the upcoming election process," said Nazrul Islam Khan, another BNP standing committee member, while speaking at the press briefing.

Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed said it would not take more than two-three months to scrutinise fake voters, appoint election officials, and settle the delimitation issue.

He added that they do not think the government would need over three-four months to hold elections after completing the necessary reform work in the administration, judiciary, and police.

Moyeen said the BNP also submitted proposals on election observation policies and the media code of conduct during polls. 

Awami League in its election manifesto today pledged to form a National Minority Commission to ensure safety of the minority communities.

Laws that discriminate religious and ethnic minorities will be amended and the communities' property rights will be ensured within a fixed timeframe.

Moreover, steps will be taken to implement the sections of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Accord that have not yet been implemented, the party said in its manifesto. 

The Daily Star has launched a new series of talk show ‘The Election Talks 2018’ where experts are analysing all aspects of the upcoming general elections, contemporary politics, events and incidents.

In today’s episode of ‘The Election Talks 2018’, Sharmeen Murshid, chief executive officer of a non-government organisation and local election observer group ‘Brotee’, talks with The Daily Star about the upcoming election.

She sheds light on the inclusion process of election observers for the 11th national polls on a one-to-one with Shakhawat Liton, planning editor of The Daily Star.

While listing the election observers this time, the election commission has excluded many experienced observes while many election observer groups were included who are not known to us, she said.

Mentioning that the scope of observing the election is getting reduced, she said, "This shrunken scope has raised questions in our minds."

As an example, she said that during the 2008 elections, number of total international election observers were 593 and local observers were 1,00,059 from 75 organisations. But this time there are only 25 to 26 thousand local observers and under 100 international observers, according to election commission data.   

Watch the video to know more!

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s adviser Inam Ahmed Chowdhury, who was nomination seeker of the opposition party from Sylhet-1, officially joined the ruling Awami League today.

He formally joined the ruling party after offering bouquet of flower to AL President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence Gono Bhaban this evening.

A member of prime minister's press wing confirmed the development to The Daily Star.

The Election Commission yesterday decided to hold re-elections in three polling centres of Brahmanbaria-2 on January 9, as the polls there were suspended on Sunday.

In a notice, signed by EC Joint Secretary Forhad Ahammad Khan, the commission said that elections in three of the 76 polling centres were suspended following deterioration of law and order during Sunday's national election.

The centres were at Jatrapur Governmnet Primary School, Bahadurpur Governmnet Primary School and Sohagpur Governmnet Primary School.

During voting hours on Sunday, supporters of two candidates were locked in a heated argument after which voting was suspended in the three centres. The incident occurred around 11:00am.

EC officials said that the BNP candidate Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan was leading the polls in the constituency with 82,723 votes while independent candidate Moyeen Uddin bagged 72,564 votes.

The number of voters of the three centres was 10, 572, while the total number of voters in the constituency was 214,039.