EC plans 40,000 polling stations for next general elections

As part of preparations for holding the 11th parliamentary polls, the election commission has decided to set up 40,000 polling stations across the country.

The EC has directed its field-level officers to publish the draft list of polling centres by 5 August, said Abul Kashem, a joint secretary of EC secretariat.

The officers have been asked to settle disputes, if any, about the proposed polling stations, by 6 September, according to the letter signed by EC secretariat’s assistant secretary Rawshan Ara Begum. Its copies were sent to district and upazila level EC officials on Thursday.

According to electoral rules, the final list of polling stations has to be published at least 25 days ahead of the announcement of the election schedule.

The schedule is expected to be announced in October and voting to be held in December.

The proposed number of polling stations may be the final one for electing the country's next parliament and thus the new government.

Of the planned polling stations, as many as 39,387 will be set up in the plain land and 613 in the hill region, according to the letter.

Each polling centre is supposed to be made for around 2,500 voters. A booth should also be created for every 600 male voters while one for every 500 female voters.

Currently, there are 104,142,381 voters, compared to 91,965,167 during the elections on 5 January 2014 boycotted by all major opposition political parties.

The number of polling stations was 37,707 in 2014 while the number of booths was 1,89,078.

The tenure of current parliament will expire on 28 January 2019, as per constitutional provision. And election has to be held within the last 90 days before expiry of parliament.

Accordingly, the next general elections may be held between 31 October and 28 January 2019.

The EC has started taking preparations to hold the elections on time while the ruling party leaders including the prime minister made broad hint that the ballot will be held in December.

An amount of Tk 18.95 billion has been earmarked in the current budget for meeting expenses of the elections.