Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus yesterday said reforms without consensus and elections without reforms would not be able to take Bangladesh forward.

The Electoral Reform Commission is likely to recommend an investigation into irregularities during the last three national polls held under ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Leaders of the 12-party alliance, who previously organised joint movements with the BNP against the former Awami League government, have expressed support for the BNP’s position on holding the next parliamentary elections by 2025.

The US yesterday welcomed plans by Bangladesh's interim leader to hold elections next year or in early 2026

The BNP expressed its disappointment yesterday over the absence of a specific date for the next parliamentary polls in the chief adviser’s recent address to the nation.

The next parliamentary polls are expected to take place by June 30, 2026, said Shafiqul Alam, the press secretary to the chief adviser.

Focus on parliamentary elections now, no immediate plans for local elections

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus yesterday said it may be possible to hold the next general election at the end of 2025 or in the first half of 2026.

BNP leaders welcomed Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus’s announcement on the timeline of national elections but urged a clear and actionable roadmap.

Business leaders, economists and professionals have emphasised that an elected government is essential for restoring confidence in the business community, stabilising law and order, and revitalising the business and investment climate.

Earlier, Yunus said it may be possible to hold the next national elections at the end of 2025 or the first half of 2026

Party secretary general says in reaction of CA's address

The chief adviser highlights voting rights and electoral reforms

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday said his party, if voted to power, will form a “national government” with participation from all parties that supported them throughout.

The BNP believes that the cabinet expansion is an attempt of this interim government to prolong its stay in power. Considering this, the party plans to beef up its street programmes to put pressure on the government to call for elections, said party leaders.

In a major development, the interim government yesterday formed a six-member search committee led by Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, to constitute a new Election Commission.

The Election Commission Secretariat has informed Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser to the interim government, earlier this month about the preparations needed to hold a free and fair election as political parties’ calls for polls grow louder.

"Every scoundrel wants to be a poet; ants are hell-bent on flying / The jungle's tusked boars lay claim to the highest throne."

Election Commission published the final voters' list for the upcoming 12th parliamentary polls this afternoon with 11,96,91,633 voters

'If irregularities occur across the entire country, there will be no election. Elections will be halted nationwide and will be held again. If irregularities are identified at a specific polling centre, voting there will be stopped, and it will be rescheduled,' says Habibul