Tag Archives: election

MNA National Desk: A 54-hour ban imposed by the Election Commission (EC) on the movement of motorcycles in the capital ahead of the Dhaka city election will come into effect from Thursday midnight. The restriction will remain in place until 6:00 in the morning on Sunday. Movements of motorised vehicles have also been restricted for 18 hours but it will come into effect from Friday midnight in the election areas. Dhaka’s two city corporations are going to polls on February 01, UNB reported. Motorcycles and vehicles with the EC’s stickers, vehicles of emergency services, including ambulance, fire service and postal ...

MNA Career & Education Desk: Dhaka University (DU) vice-chancellor Md Akhtaruzzaman on Monday said the upcoming elections to DU Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) and hall unions will be participatory, free and fair, reports UNB. “No one can interfere in and foil the election. If anyone tries to do anything illegal, the university authorities will take instant actions,” he told a briefing on the DUCSU polls at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of the university. The DU VC urged the student bodies to maintain an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence and practice democratic norms on the campus ahead of the elections ...

MNA International Desk: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro proposed early parliamentary elections on Saturday, seeking to shore up his crumbling rule after a senior general defected to the opposition and tens of thousands thronged the streets in protest at his government. As domestic and international pressure on Maduro to step down mounts, a senior air force general disavowed him in a video that circulated earlier on Saturday, expressing his allegiance to parliament head and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido. The military’s support is crucial for Maduro, who is deeply unpopular, largely due to an unprecedented economic crisis that has prompted an ...

MNA National Desk: The Election Commission is planning to hold Upazila Parishad election in 101 Upazilas in the first phase on Mar 10. The EC secretariat will present the names of 101 Upazilas in Rangpur, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Chattogram divisions chosen for the ballot at the commission meeting. The schedule for the fifth Upazila council elections to the posts of chairman, vice chairman and reserved women vice-chairman will be announced on Feb 3, said EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed. A meeting led by Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda has been convened for Sunday. The meeting will focus on two ...

MNA National Desk: The first session of the 11th parliament began at 3pm on Wednesday amid BNP’s boycott and protest. The first session started within 31 days of the general election held on December 30. Earlier on January 9, President Abdul Hamid summoned the session exercising the power bestowed upon him as per clause (1) of article 72 of the constitution. According to the parliament’s rules of procedure, the duration and proceedings of the first session will be finalized at a meeting of the business advisory committee of the parliament with parliament speaker in the chair today. The duration of ...

MNA National Desk: The Dhaka North City Corporation by-polls will be held on Feb 28, the Election Commission has announced. The election to the Kishoreganj-1 parliamentary constituency, which has fallen vacant after the death of Awami League leader Syed Ashraful Islam, will be held on the same day, according to the EC. EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed announced the schedules after a commission meeting on Tuesday.

MNA National Desk: The High Court (HC) on Wednesday cleared the way for holding the by-election to Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC). The bench of Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore and Justice Mohammad Ullah withdrew its earlier order that kept the mayoral by-election withheld for six months. The court also rejected three separate petitions filed on the election affairs, said Kazi Mynul Hasan, a counsel of the Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD). The High Court withdrew the stay order and rejected three petitions as no lawyer from the petitioner was present during the hearing, said the counsel, reports UNB. Now ...

MNA International Desk: Thailand’s long-delayed general election to end military rule will have to be postponed from its February 24 date and will likely be held in March, two officials in the Election Commission said on Tuesday. The Election Commission of Thailand has not announced the postponement, but two senior election officials told Reuters it was impossible to hold the polls on Feb. 24, as announced last month. The military junta that has ruled for nearly five years had earlier suggested a one-month delay because of scheduling clashes with the coronation of the king in May. “The February 24 election ...

MNA National Desk: Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which rejected the 30 December parliamentary polls, may join the talks reportedly initiated by prime minister Sheikh Hasina, if demand for cancellation of the election results is made the agenda. BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir raised the demand on Monday in response to the prime minister’s overture to the opposition that held talks with her before the general elections won by her party but plagued by allegations of rigging. “We’ll consider joining such a dialogue only if the issue of cancellation of election results is included as the key agenda,” the ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Jatiya Oikya Front chief Kamal Hossain has admitted that the fielding of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders in the 11th parliamentary election by the opposition alliance was a mistake. “In my view, it was a mistake,” he said at a media briefing in Dhaka on Saturday, two weeks after the election. Kamal also said he would mount pressure on the BNP, a key ally of the Oikya Front, over the issue. Claiming that he did not know about the participation of 25 Jamaat candidates in the election, Kamal said, “I’ve already publicly said that no Jamaat men were in the ...

MNA National Desk: At least 12 people, mostly activists of the Awami League, have been killed in violence during the 11th national election, which ended amid reports of clashes and attacks on Sunday. Several more are injured, but their total figure is yet to be confirmed. Few incidents are stated below: – 40-year-old Jubo League leader Liakat Hossain hacked to death outside a voting centre at Gazipur’s Harinal. – Jubo League leader Nur Nabi Henru hacked to death by attackers at Noakhali’s Begumganj. – 40-year-old Modasser Ali, an Awami League Leader, is beaten dead in violence at Pachandar Union at Rajshahi. ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Hopefully Dec 30 is going to be another landmark in the political history of Bangladesh as the 11th national election is scheduled to be held on that day. Heavy movements and showdowns centering this important political event are going on. Awami League has started its nomination process immediately after election schedule declaration. Jatiyo Oikya Front and other parties followed soon. Aspirant nomination seekers, who started campaign in their respective areas even few months back, of two major alliances turned very active to portray their popularity which even resulted in violation of several rules and regulations of electoral ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Election Commission Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed on Tuesday said the election observers should follow the Election Commission’s policy during the 11 parliamentary elections He also urged the election observers not to make any comment to the media on the day of the 11th parliamentary elections. “The election observers must stay at polling stations like statues, even if there’re irregularities,” said the secretary while briefing election observers about the rules and regulations while performing duties during the election, reports UNB. Besides, Helaluddin said, they will not be allowed to enter the polling stations with mobile phones and restricted polling ...

MNA Editorial Desk: All the political parties of Bangladesh are much energized now-a-days eyeing on the 11th National election scheduled to be held within less than three months. Everywhere we are experiencing the hype of the upcoming election. Local markets, tea stalls and any other public gathering places are filled with political discussions especially the issue of a free and fair election. Moreover, voters are betting on their favourite candidates to receive the party nominations and are getting often involved in heated arguments. But till now the political parties are yet to declare their election manifestos. Our citizens seem to ...

MNA Editorial Desk: With everything on course, we are approaching the 11th national election of Bangladesh to be held very soon. The political field is becoming vulnerable with so many uncertainties revolving around this poll. Few feels that the path is very clear for the ruling party to claim victory and hence forming the government for the third consecutive period. Many people think that there will be some extraordinary movements prior to the poll and the opposition parties will come alive to clinch the victory as they believe the ruling party has lost its touch with the voters. Few movements ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader has dismissed the conditions the BNP announced for its participation in the upcoming general election. Bangladesh will not agree to any provisions before it holds an election, the Awami League leader said. Quader described the BNP’s announcement that it would boycott the election again unless Khaleda Zia was released from jail as just ‘cacophonous noise’. “It stinks of conspiracy. We hear hints of violence and sabotage in these words.” “Bangladesh will not hold a conditional election,” he said. “The election will be held according to the constitution. There is no need ...

MNA International Desk: Turks vote for a new president and parliament on Sunday in elections that pose the biggest challenge to Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party since they swept to power more than a decade and a half ago. The elections will also usher in a powerful new executive presidency long sought by Erdogan and backed by a small majority of Turks in a 2017 referendum. Critics say it will further erode democracy in the NATO member state and entrench one-man rule. Erdogan, the most popular but also divisive leader in modern Turkish history, moved the elections forward ...

MNA International Desk: Mahathir Mohamad will become the world’s oldest elected leader, after a shock victory in Malaysia’s election. The former PM, 92, came out of retirement and switched to the opposition to challenge his former protege Najib Razak, who has been beset by corruption allegations. His historic win has ousted the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has been in power since independence in 1957. Mr Mahathir said his coalition would “restore the rule of law”. Mr Najib has not yet commented on his dramatic loss. Official results showed the opposition Pakatan Harapan – the Alliance of Hope – had ...

MNA Feature Desk: Vladimir Putin has clinched yet another presidential election on March 18, 2018. He will be in his presidential office for the fourth term and will own it for the next six years. The victory was huge with around 77 per cent of the cast votes in his favour though the competition was not much severe for him in the absence of his main rival Alexei Navalny, who had been barred from running because of a fraud conviction. Despite being elected with a large margin, the world leaders seemed to be very slow to congratulate Putin as it ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Politics in Bangladesh is trudging though a tough course especially ahead of the coming parliamentary election due to be held in December this year or in early 2019 as provided by the constitution, to mark the end of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s second consecutive five-year term in power. The incumbent PM has already completed four years in her second term and is vying for a third five-year tenure through the polls so her government can finish many unfinished development and infrastructural project to suit the requirements of a middle income country Bangladesh aspires to achieve by 2021. ...

MNA National Desk: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A K M Nurul Huda on Monday said that the process for holding the 11th parliamentary polls will start in October this year. ‘All the political parties will participate in the upcoming national polls,’ hoped the CEC while responding to the reporters at the circuit house. He said that the election may be held in December this year or January in 2019. While replying to a question on BNP’s proposal about ‘supporting government’ to uphold the next general election, he said it is a political matter and the government will take decision over ...

MNA Editorial Desk: After boycotting the national elections of 2014, BNP has once again made it clear that they will not take part in the next national elections under the Awami League administration. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia said, “A fair election is not possible with Hasina in power. I tell the chief election commissioner that it’s your responsibility to hold a credible election in the country,” in a rally in Dhaka on Sunday, when she restated her demand for a ‘neutral government’ for the polls. The 13th constitutional amendment scrapped the provision of a polls-time caretaker government and paved the ...

MNA National Desk: BNP, a regular critic of the Election Commission (EC), attends the discussions over the upcoming 11th National Elections. The discussion, part of a series of meetings where the EC listens to electoral reform suggestions from the political parties and other stakeholders, began around 11am on Sunday at the Agargaon headquarters of the EC. Standing Committee Members Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Barrister Maudud Ahmed, Jamiruddin Sarker, Tariqul Islam, Mahbubur Rahman, Rafiqul Islam Mia, Mirza Abbas, Gayshwar Chandra Roy, Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan and Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury was among the BNP delegate which came to meet with the ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The government has shifted its position on budget specially VAT, excise duty hike as they are focusing on the upcoming general election in 2019. Finance Minister AMA Muhith backtracked from his decisions to impose 15 percent uniform VAT and raise excise duty on bank accounts of smaller balance to meet the huge expenditure of the next fiscal year after severe criticism. The businessmen kept protesting the new VAT law for a period of over one year. The opposition leaders as well as leaders from the government have raised voices following public concern after Muhith presented the proposed ...

MNA Business Desk: The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the hearing on a petition filed over the process of holding election to the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) till 30 March. A three-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by chief justice S K Sinha, passed the order as there was a mistake in the paperbook. On 23 March last, the chamber judge’s issued the rule after a hearing on the petition filed by the FBCCI against an HC order that stayed the process of holding the election for two months. The Chamber Judge also sent ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Selina Hayat Ivy, the ruling Awami League-backed candidate has been re-elected as Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) mayor. She has won by a huge margin as she gained 182% of votes, almost double, of her closest rival BNP-backed Sakhawat. She defeated BNP candidate Sakhawat Hossain Khan by over 79,567 votes and also won her rival’s neighborhood with 1,930 votes, in one of the most peaceful, violence and vandalism-free elections we have seen in quite a long time. An election was held in Narayanganj for the first time in many years with no contestant from the influential Osman family ...

MNA Editorial Desk: President Abdul Hamid has invited the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for discussion over reformation of the election commission on 18 December. “The president will start dialogue on the formation of the new EC from 18 December. The first meeting will be held with the BNP at 4:30pm on the day at Bangabhaban,” the president’s press secretary Joynal Abedin told to reporters. The president will also hold meetings with Jatiya Party on 20 December, Liberal Democratic Party and Krishak Sramik Janata League on 21 December and Jatiya Samajtantrik Party-Inu on 22 December. Earlier, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) sought ...