EC decides not to postpone Dhaka-10, Bagerhat-4 and Gaibandha-3 by-polls

Election Commission (EC) today decided not to postpone by-elections to Dhaka-10, Bagerhat-4 and Gaibandha-3.

The three by-elections will be held on the scheduled day -- March 21, EC Secretary Md Alamgir told reporters after an emergency meeting at its Agargaon office this afternoon.

The decision comes at a time when the government has been taking preventive measures against possible spread of the novel coronavirus in the country.

However, decisions on the other two by-polls -- Bogura-1 and Jashore-6 -- and the election to the Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) would be taken at EC's next meeting on March 21, the EC secretary said.

As a preventive measure, there will be hand sanitisers and washing facility for voters at all election centres, he added.

He also informed that the service related to national identity card (NID) was suspended till March 31.

The CCC election, Bogura-1 and Jashore-6 by-polls are slated for March 29.

On March 16, the government announced that all educational institutions would remain closed from March 18 to March 31 to handle the coronavirus outbreak.

Besides, the authorities of Bangladesh Motion Picture Exhibitors Association said all movie theatres across the country would be shut down from March 18 to April 2.

The Ministry for Youth and Sports suspended all domestic and international games and sports events until April 30 and March 31 respectively.