Dhaka, July 12 (bdnews24.com)—BNP leaders will meet with the Election Commission this week to discuss the timing of the party's national council for approving a permanent constitution, a top party official said on Sunday.

Office secretary Rizvi Ahmed told bdnews24.com that a meeting of the BNP standing committee had decided to meet with election officials on July 16.

Earlier in the day, Rizvi had hinted to reporters BNP would hold council at the end of the year after ongoing party reformation was complete.

The highest policy making body of BNP sat on Sunday night to decide whether to ask for an extension to the Election Commission's deadline.

The three-hour meeting, chaired by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office, ended just before midnight, said Rizvi.

None of the country's 39 registered political parties have submitted their permanent constitutions or applied for an extension of the July 25 deadline so far, election commissioner Sakhawat Hussain said earlier in the day.

Based upon the Representation of the People Order (RPO), there are only 13 days remaining for political parties to submit their permanent constitutions to the EC.

Shakhawat said the EC will recommend to the government that an amendment be enacted to the electoral law if the parties apply for a 'logical' extension of the submission date.

At his office, Sakhawat told reporters, "The EC doesn't enact laws and can't even modify them. The government has to take steps to amend the RPO."

"The EC can only recommend to the government to adopt such an amendment. We'll decide on whether to do this by July 25," he added.

The incumbent Election Commission, formed during the last caretaker government, made the registration of all political parties mandatory ahead of the December general elections, for the first time in Bangladesh's history.

Many parties sought additional time to fulfill all conditions for the registration. The commission accordingly registered the parties based upon their draft constitutions and the parties promised to approve the constitutions through later councils.

They were given six months from the start of the new parliament, which convened on Jan 25 this year.

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