Students agitating unknowingly: EC Secy

Election Commission (EC) senior secretary Md Alamgir has said the students are unknowingly agitating for the deferment of Dhaka city polls.

He said, "Those students are agitating with demand of rescheduling of the polls, some of them, possibly, doing so knowingly and some other unknowingly but they all will realize later."

The secretary said this after an internal of the EC on Wednesday evening.

A group of Dhaka University students have been protesting at city Shahbagh intersection for two consecutive days urging EC to hold the elections on another date instead of January 30 as the country's Hindu community will celebrate their one of the biggest religious festivals Saraswati Puja on the day.

Secretary Alamgir said the commission earlier said Saraswati Puja is on January 29 according to Calendar and Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam starts from February 1. So, there is one day (January 30) between the two when EC can hold election.

He also said the High Court turned down a writ petition of the community seeking city polls delay as they failed to establish their arguments there.

"They (Hindu community) said will file appeal but still now did not do so. If the court does not give further direction, EC will hold the polls on the scheduled day of January 30," he added.