Dialogue on EC formation: Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal to meet President Hamid today

President Abdul Hamid is set to meet the leaders of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu) at Bangabhaban today (22 December) as he continues discussions with the political parties on the formation of the next Election Commission (EC).

The current EC is scheduled to expire on 14 February, 2022.

The dialogue, second in the series, is scheduled to be held at 4pm.

The president opened the dialogue on Monday with Jatiya Party (JaPa), the main opposition party in the parliament.

The eight-member JaPa delegation was led by its chairman GM Quader.

Bangladesh National Awami Party (NAP) has been invited to hold the dialogue at 4pm on 26 December while Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) will meet the president at 6pm the same day.

Bangladesh Tarikat Federation and Khelafat Majlish will participate in the discussion at 4pm and 6pm on 27 December respectively while Bangladesh Workers' Party is scheduled to join on 28 December at 4pm.

On 29 December, Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF) was invited to hold the dialogue at 4pm while Islami Oikya Jote exchange will exchange their views with the president at 6pm on the same day.

Now there are 39 registered political parties, according to the EC website. But only nine parties have representation in the parliament.

The nine parties are Bangladesh Awami League, JaPa, BNP, Bangladesh Workers Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Jasod, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Gano Forum, Bangladesh Tarikat Federation and Jatiya Party-JP.