Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus wrote to the Election Commission, officially requesting to complete all preparations to hold the next parliamentary election before Ramadan in February 2026. "With this letter, the formalities of the government's request to the Election Commission to arrange the election have been completed," said a media release from the Chief Adviser's Press Wing on Wednesday (Aug. 6) night. In the letter sent to the EC's Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed, the CA's Principal Secretary M Siraz Uddin Miah requested him to take all necessary measures to arrange a "free, fair, peaceful and festive" national election of the expected quality within the specified time.

This came a day after Dr Yunus announced in his televised address to the nation on August 5 that he would be doing so. The chief adviser emphasised on making arrangements for a memorable election that people would remember as a day of great joy and festivity, in the context of citizens not being able to vote in the last fifteen years.

The National Citizen Party (NCP) served show-cause notices on five of its senior leaders for their "unannounced" visit to Cox's Bazar on the first anniversary of the July Uprising. The five leaders are NCP's Chief Coordinator Nasiruddin Patwary, Chief Organiser (North) Sarjis Alam, Chief Organiser (South) Hasnat Abdullah, Senior Joint Member Secretary Tasnim Jara, and Khaled Saifullah, a joint convener of the party who is also Jara's husband.

"Yesterday, on August 5, the first anniversary of the July uprising and a nationally important day, you and four other central party members went to Cox's Bazar on a personal visit. No prior information or explanation regarding this visit was communicated to the political council," the letter sent to them said. Their sudden visit triggered rumours in political circles that the NCP leaders were there to meet former US ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas, currently serving as a strategic adviser to the US multinational company Excelerate Energy. But these rumours were later dispelled.

BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and US Chargé d'Affaires to Bangladesh Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson held a meeting in London, where the former has been a political exile for almost 17 years now. Tarique's Foreign Affairs Adviser Humayun Kabir and the US Embassy in Dhaka confirmed the meeting, according to a private television channel. Kabir described the meeting as "very good" and said it lasted for a couple of hours. "The ambassador exchanged pleasantries with Tarique Rahman and got to know him personally," he added.

The discussion focused on BNP's views regarding the upcoming national election, the party's vision for future governance and its international outlook. They discussed fundamental issues-what kind of country the BNP wants to build if it wins the next election, and how it sees its role internationally, Kabir added. Tarique is said to have relayed that his approach to foreign policy will be shaped by the aspirations of the people of Bangladesh and the spirit of the July Uprising.

The interim government has repaid an amount of Tk18,631 crore in outstanding power bills to foreign companies against electricity imports. "The government has been actively working to settle outstanding bills, including those owed to (India's) Adani Power and others," Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said this week. The government has paid Tk5,000 crore to Adani Power, and the adviser said the dues to the company now stand at over Tk2300 crore.

Khan said that the government took various steps to minimise avoidable expenditures related to different power projects, and so far, Tk6,479 crore was saved. Power Division officials said they reduced import service charge by 4% over the last year, worth Tk470 crore. The government shut down 10 inefficient and outdated old plants by Independent Power Producers or rental power plants, having generation capacity 1010MW. That saved Tk525 crore. Besides, steps were taken to save Tk2,630 crore through the public power generation companies.