Bangladesh interim government law adviser Asif Nazrul on Thursday said that the date for the next national election would be announced within a few days.
He made the remarks at a press conference on the activities of his ministry in the past one year, held at the secretariat in the capital Dhaka.
Asked whether people would finally be able to vote after the past three to four rigged elections, Asif Nazrul said, 鈥極f course, everyone will be able to exercise their voting rights.鈥�
The adviser said that filing of false cases for harassing people and mob violence were the most unfortunate incidents during the interim government鈥檚 tenure.
Observing that people could not exercise their voting rights in the past four elections, he said the painful time was going to be over.
鈥榃e haven鈥檛 been able to vote for the past 18 years.鈥�
Responding to a query about the election date, he replied, 鈥楯ust wait a little longer. The announcement will come within a few days.鈥�
Asked, the law adviser said, 鈥業 disagree with the claim that there was no issue about the 2008 election. There are grounds to raise question about that one too. Journalists who investigate will find alarming information about the 2008 polls.鈥�
He said, 鈥楾he Election Commission will oversee the electoral process. I can only speak about the government鈥檚 intention. Our intention is to hold the best election in Bangladesh鈥檚 history 鈥� that is what our chief adviser constantly emphasises.鈥�
Noting the success of his ministry, Asif Nazrul said, 鈥楻ecommendations have been made to withdraw over 15,000 politically motivated cases after a thorough review of first information reports and charge sheets by the district committees concerned and the Law and Justice Division.鈥�
He said that the government also withdrew 408 speech offence cases filed under the cyber act and 752 harassment cases linked to the July-August uprising.
The adviser, while talking about legal reforms undertaken by the ministry, mentioned about the amendment to the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, 1973, the formulation of Supreme Court Judge Appointment Ordinance, 2025, the amendment to Civil Procedure Code, the amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the amendment to Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, and the formulation of Cyber Security Ordinance, 2025.
About the institutional reforms, he said that the power to create posts in the Bangladesh Judicial Service had been entrusted to the Supreme Court to ensure the independence of the judiciary, and the Bangladesh Judicial Service Formation Rules, 2025 and specific rules for the appointment of members of the judicial service to the Law and Justice Division had been formulated.
About the digitalisation of judicial processes, he said, 鈥楾he attestation service of the ministry has been made fully online. For the first time, software has been prepared for online submission of bail bonds.鈥�
Asif Nazrul also said that the number of documents disposed of at the ministerial level was 1,283 in the past one year against 834 documents in the previous year.
In the period, 1,59,544 documents of 36 types, including certificates and affidavits, have been authenticated, which was double compared with that in the previous year, he added.