LGRD Adviser Asif Mahmud Likely to Resign Today Ahead of Election Schedule

Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan, the Adviser for LGRD and Cooperatives, who is one of the student representatives in the interim government, is expected to announce his resignation today (December 10).

This announcement comes just as the Election Commission (EC) is set to declare the schedule for the 13th National Election today or tomorrow, with the polls anticipated in the first half of February.

Asif Mahmud has called a press conference at the conference room of the Local Government Division for 3:00 PM today, where sources indicate he will declare his resignation.

The resignation appears linked to the upcoming election, as Asif Mahmud had previously expressed interest in contesting as an independent candidate from the Dhaka-10 constituency and has applied to be registered as a voter in that area.

The position of the other student representative, Mahfuj Alam, the Information and Broadcasting Adviser, remains uncertain; it is unclear whether he will also step down at this time.

The resignation follows repeated demands from the BNP for the two student advisers to resign ahead of the election. Sources suggest that the government's top level had previously advised both advisers to step down by mid-September, and the advice was reportedly repeated recently after they initially showed reluctance.

The Election Commission has called representatives of Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar to record the election schedule announcement at 4:00 PM today.