Dhaka, Dec. 14 -- Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin has said the shooting of Inqilab Moncho Convenor Sharif Osman bin Hadi hit him "like a bolt from the blue".

He made the comment at the beginning of a meeting with law enforcers over election-time preparations.

Hadi, an independent election hopeful in the Dhaka-8 constituency, was shot in the head on Friday afternoon, a day after the schedule for the parliamentary polls and referendum was announced.

He was travelling in a battery-powered rickshaw in Dhaka's Bijoynagar area as part of his election campaign when the incident took place. His condition remains critical.

On Thursday, the CEC announced the election schedule, setting Feb 12 as the date for the parliamentary polls a...