With a new election around the corner, neither the government nor the Election Commission (EC) has any plan at this moment to bring reforms in the EC and electoral laws, sources said.

Sensing ruling BNP's strategy to pass the buck to the interim government, Awami League-led 14-party opposition coalition is now planning to realise the demand for reforms during the tenure of the next caretaker government, sources said

No remarkable progress has yet taken place in bringing reforms in the caretaker government system, EC and the electoral laws in the last five months since the opposition placed the reform proposals in the parliament.

The ruling and opposition parties could not sit for a dialogue over the issue as they could not form a committee to deal with the proposals despite exchanging several letters in the last four months.

The prevailing stand-off over electoral reforms has prompted many political analysts to believe that the tenure of the current government will expire in October this year without resolving the issue.

"I don't see any serious initiative at this moment for electoral reforms. It seems the agenda for reforms is gradually becoming a dead issue as both the ruling and opposition alliances started election campaigns," former adviser to a caretaker government M Hafizuddin Khan told The Daily Star yesterday.

If the caretaker government wants to bring reforms in the election laws, it will have to do that through promulgating an ordinance as the parliament will be dissolved at the time. "But it will be difficult for the caretaker government to bring reforms as it will have a very little time to tackle the massive task of holding an election," Hafizuddin observed.

Analysing the latest political development centring expansion of electoral alliances, many political analysts believe, it will dominate discussions in the next two months as HM Ershad announced his intention to join the four-party ruling alliance by September while the tenure of the government is set to expire in October.

Ruling BNP's desperate move to bring Ershad into its alliance has sparked disputes among the alliance partners and among some senior JP leaders. The move also annoyed AL although it still believes Ershad will finally join the opposition coalition.

Irked by the move, ruling alliance partners Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote reacted sharply fearing loss of their dominance within the alliance, as JP is stronger than them regarding electoral strength.

Sensing the government's reluctance to carry out electoral reforms and its strategy for expanding the ruling alliance to put the opposition coalition under pressure, many opposition leaders believe they will have to wait for the caretaker government to realise their demand for reforms.

The opposition coalition that remains rigid in its position that they will not join the polls without reforms however decided to continue the ongoing agitation to realise their demand.

"The demand for reforms will be realised through promulgating an ordinance during the caretaker government, if necessary," AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil said in an interview with a daily.

Meanwhile, ruling BNP Secretary General also LGRD and Co-operatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan said no reform will be brought without consulting the ruling alliance.

He has been repeatedly urging the opposition to sit for a dialogue, but did not concede to the opposition's demand for dropping the names of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote leaders from the proposed committee that would negotiate the reform issue.

In a latest development, both BNP and AL are speaking about an alternative way for holding a dialogue on the reform issue. But none of them has made any specific proposal till date.

In wake of the prevailing situation, political analysts believe that the next caretaker government which is scheduled to assume office after October 27 must initiate steps for brining reforms as the opposition coalition declared that it will not participate in any poll without the reforms.

The opposition coalition has been agitating on the streets since July 2005 through placing a set of reform proposals. At the beginning, the government had rejected the proposals outright, but later asked the opposition to place the proposals in the parliament.

Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina on February 12 placed the proposals in the parliament.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia responded to the demand in parliament on February 28 and proposed to form a committee that would deal with the reform issue.

The BNP secretary general on March 20 sent a letter to the AL secretary general inviting the main opposition party to join a committee to discuss the reform agenda. After trading several letters, BNP announced the names of the ruling alliance representatives in the committee including Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote leaders.

The AL-led opposition coalition through a letter to the BNP secretary general in early May sharply reacted to the inclusion of two Islamic leaders in the committee and refused to sit with them for a dialogue. The process of negotiation has been suspended since then.