Election Training Of Field Administration Starts Today

Ahead of the 12th National Assembly elections, the training of officials at various levels of field administration is starting today, Sunday (October 1). On this day, training of one hundred Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNO) will be started in four batches.

Each batch will be given two-day training at the Election Training Institute (ETI) at Agargaon in the capital. The EC will train Divisional Commissioners, DIGs, Police Commissioners, DCs, SPs, Regional Election Officers and District and Upazila Election Officers periodically. This is the first time that the Commission is going to organize such training before the National Assembly elections. Through this training, they are going to make the existing administration suitable for holding elections. However, there are various complaints about partisanship in the administration.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission will hold a meeting with its own officials on October 7. Regional and district election officials have been asked to attend the meeting. This information is known from EC sources.

The officials of the EC Secretariat said that this training has been organized to provide general guidance and update the amendment of electoral laws and rules for the smooth conduct of the 12th National Parliament elections. After announcing the schedule in the previous elections, the Election Commission used to give a one-day briefing to the field administration officials. This time two days of training is being given before the announcement of the schedule.

When asked about the commencement of training for UNOs, Director General of Electoral Training Institute SM Asaduzzaman told the media on Saturday (September 30) that the Representation of the People Order, 1972 (RPO), various rules and regulations of the EC have been amended. This training has been organized to give an idea about these amendments and election management.

It is known that 1,14 officials of the Upazila level will be trained as part of the training of the field administration. Among them, 492 are UNOs and 522 Thana and Upazila Election Officers. This training will be given in total 41 batches with 25 people in each batch. Starting Sunday will continue till November 2. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal will inaugurate the training program.

After completion of training of UNO and Upazila Election Officers, the Commission will train Divisional Commissioners, DIGs, Police Commissioners, DCs, SPs, Regional Election Officers and District Election Officers in 9 batches. DCs are the Returning Officers and UNOs are the Assistant Returning Officers in the National Assembly Elections. DIG and Superintendents of Police are responsible for maintaining law and order in elections. The EC has organized this training assuming that most of the existing field administration officials will be responsible for the upcoming elections.