Bangladesh, Aug. 28 -- A training programme is being launched to prepare election officials for the upcoming 13th national parliamentary polls.

Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin will inaugurate the programme on Friday.

Between 900,000 - 1 million election officials at the central and field levels will receive the training in stages from September to December. The cost is estimated at nearly Tk 1 billion.

According to Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, the elections are scheduled to be held in the first half of February, before Ramadan. The Election Commission (EC) is to announce the schedule in the first half of December.

A time-based working plan has also been made to monitor the overall progress of the vote preparations and oth...