DHAKA: Bangladesh poll authority on Monday deferred the date for next month's general elections by a week to December 30, a day after the country's main Opposition alliance demanded delaying the polls by a month to allow them to prepare for the poll.
Last week, the Bangladesh Election Commission announced that the 11th general election will be held on December 23.
The Jatiya Oikya Front -- a political alliance of opposition parties that includes the main Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) -- has urged the Election Commission to defer the polls by a month.
The BNP, led by imprisoned ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia, on Sunday said it would participate in the general election next month after it boycotted the 2014 polls that returned Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League to power.
The BNP boycotted the last election, citing unfair conditions for the polls.
"The 11th general election will be held across Bangladesh on December 30," Chief Election Commissioner Nurul Huda announced while attending an exhibition on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at the Bangabandhu Convention Centre here.
He said the commission discussed the letter sent by the Jatiya Oikya Front requesting a deferral of the polls.
The Election Commission will now accept nominations until November 28 he said.
Nearly 104.2 million people, including some 51.6 million women, are registered as voters.
They will elect 300 representatives to Parliament through the balloting in about 40,199 polling stations.
"They [BNP and Oikya Front] said they are interested in participating in the polls," said Huda.
"The election commissioners discussed the matter and came to this decision."
"There was some delay in getting their written proposal. We met on the matter today. But it is reassuring to the commission that the BNP and Oikya Front will take part in the polls."
"Despite extreme adverse situation Jatiya Oikya Front (NUF) has decided to take part in the election as part of our movement to restore democracy," convenor of the platform and prominent lawyer Kamal Hossain announced on Sunday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina immediately welcomed the NUF's decision, saying it will "strengthen the democracy and jointly contest in the poll to reflect the verdict of the people".
Ruling Awami League's general secretary Obaidul Quader earlier said they would have no objection if the commission deferred the election date.
The NUF came up with the announcement to participate in the polls three days after the election commission unveiled the election schedule, setting December 23 for the voting.
The BNP, whose leader 73-year-old Zia is behind bars, abstained from the 2014 polls over fears it would be rigged, allowing Hasina to walk into a second term unchallenged.
But rallying supports of the NUF partners, some left-leaning and right-wing groups and individuals, it still insists installation of a non-party caretaker government to oversee the polls.
The BNP remained to be in a state of political disarray as Zia is now serving a 10-year prison term in two graft charges and her elder son and "fugitive" acting chief Tarique Rahman's is staying in London while a Dhaka court recently handed him down life term imprisonment for masterminding a deadly attack on a political rally in 2004.
Meanwhile, senior BNP officials bought three sets of nominations for Zia.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir secured nomination papers for Zia from her ancestral home in Feni-1.
BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan bought a nomination form for her from the Bogura-6 seat.
BNP Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas bought a nomination form for a Bogura-7 seat on behalf of the BNP chief, BDNews24.com reported.