DHAKA, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladesh Election Commission said on Tuesday that it is planning to hold the country's 11th national election in the third week of December this year as the term of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Awami League (AL) party will end in January, 2019.
Commission Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed told journalists in Dhaka, "The third week of December is an appropriate time for holding the national elections."
"No specific date for elections has yet been fixed."
He said the commission will in a meeting on Thursday decide whether the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used for the first time in the election.
Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationslist Party (BNP) and its allies have long been opposing the use of EVMs in the national polls for fear that this may create opportunity for vested interest groups to digitally manipulate election results using the electronic voting machines.
AL, which rose to power with a landslide election victory in early 2009 and won its second term in 2014, now eyes for the third consecutive victory.
AL is facing challenges from Khaleda Zia's BNP, which boycotted the 2014 elections.
A total of 21 parties including Khaleda Zia's BNP boycotted the parliament elections as Hasina did not heed their demand for a non-party caretaker government to hold the polls.
BNP has still been demanding parliament polls under a non-party government and release of Khaleda Zia who was jailed in February for 5 years in a graft case.
