The Election Commission (EC) has finalized the roadmap for the 13th parliamentary elections. The roadmap is likely to be announced on Thursday, EC Secretariat Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told reporters.

Responding to a question from journalists at a briefing at the media center of Nirbhaya Bhaban in the capital's Agargaon on Wednesday, the EC secretary said, "I will tell you the roadmap that we have made. I am a little behind as I am out of Dhaka. It is on my desk now. Please wait until tomorrow (today)."

Earlier, four election commissioners and the EC secretary approved the roadmap for the 13th parliamentary elections in a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin.

In this regard, Election Commissioner Anwarul Islam Sarkar said, "Everything in the work plan has been finalized. It has been approved, now only typing is going on."

EC officials said that the roadmap mentions when each of the election preparatory work will be completed. The relevant EC officials will complete the election preparatory work according to that schedule.

EC sources said that the roadmap will announce the start of meetings with stakeholders in September. Apart from this, the roadmap will mention the time frame within which law reforms, finalization of parliamentary constituency boundaries, registration of new political parties, registration of observers, updating of voter lists, purchase of election materials, printing of ballot forms and envelopes for expatriates, finalization of polling stations, appointment of polling officers and election training will be completed. However, the roadmap will not mention the announcement of election details and the date of voting.

EC officials also said that the EC will announce the schedule in December this year with a view to holding the elections in early February next year. The Commission is going to announce this roadmap with that goal in mind. They said that the election preparatory works are ongoing. The roadmap will set a deadline for completing these works. This will reduce people's anxiety about the elections to some extent.