The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bdnews24.com, Dhaka

Nomination deadline for general and Upazila elections have been pushed back three days to Nov. 23 but election dates on Dec. 18 and 28 remain unchanged, the chief election commissioner told bdnews24.com yesterday night.

Earlier, adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman, the government spokesperson, said they wanted to defer the general election to Dec. 28 and Upazila polls to Jan. 8.

But now they plan to hold polls on Dec.18 since major parties failed to reach consensus, he said.

Chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda had said hours before they were ready to reschedule the general election for Dec. 28 if the government could get all parties to agree on the date. However, the Election Commission had not received any directives from the government until in the evening, he told reporters.

"We've waited until the evening, but are yet to get any hints from the advisers," ATM Shamsul Huda said at around 5:45pm as he left office.

"We are still sticking to the existing election schedule for now, but for the sake of participation of all parties, we've no objection to deferring polls."

Huda said the government has proposed a 10-day delay, but there needed an all-party consensus in that regard.

Given a consensus on holding the general election on Dec 28, upazila polls will be delayed accordingly, he added.

The government was expected to give a statement after a meeting between chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed and AtM Shamsul Huda, the chief election commissioner, at the Chief Adviser's Office earlier in the day.

The two met for a second time in 24 hours in the wake of intense negotiations on Tuesday over the election schedule.

On whether the deadline for nominations was being extended, Huda said after the meeting: "We have given our views and we stick to our previous schedule for now."

"Now it is a matter of understanding between the government and the political parties. The government will brief all in this regard."

Wednesday's meeting came after leaders of the two major parties hinted that the Dec. 18 vote could be deferred by some days as part of an apparent consensus reached in talks with advisers the previous night.

The new date, on or around Dec 28, was considered after the BNP's demand for deferred polls received tacit backing from most quarters, including Dhaka's influential diplomatic community, for the sake of an accord, it emerged.

Huda yesterday was accompanied by two other commissioners M Sakhawat Hussain and Muhammed Sohul Hussain to the CA's Office.