EC to Meet Acting Speaker Ahead of Presidential Election Schedule

Bangladesh's Election Commission (EC) will hold a meeting with Acting Speaker Kaiser Kamal as part of the process of announcing the schedule for the presidential election, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters at the Election Commission headquarters, Ahmed said the EC would formally seek an appointment with the Acting Speaker. According to EC officials, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A.M.M. Nasir Uddin will pay a courtesy call on Kaiser Kamal before the election schedule is announced, in line with established practice.

Earlier in the day, the CEC held an unscheduled meeting with the election commissioners and the EC senior secretary to review the legal framework and procedural steps related to the presidential election. The meeting decided that discussions with the Acting Speaker would be part of the preparations for announcing the election schedule.

Under Bangladesh's Constitution, the President is elected by members of Parliament. The Parliament Secretariat will provide the EC with the list of MPs, based on which the Commission will prepare the electoral roll before announcing the election schedule.

A source at the Parliament Secretariat's legal wing said the EC is expected to send a letter to the Speaker's office on Monday requesting a meeting.

Kaiser Kamal is currently serving as Acting Speaker under parliamentary convention. Similar arrangements were made in 2002, when Deputy Speaker Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui served as Acting Speaker after Speaker Jamir Uddin Sircar became Acting President, and in 2013, when Deputy Speaker Shawkat Ali assumed the role after Speaker Abdul Hamid became Acting President following the death of President Zillur Rahman.