A total of 25 foreigners have so far applied to the election commission to observe the forthcoming 12th parliamentary election in Bangladesh.
Besides, 19 news persons who work at different foreign media outlets applied to the EC to collect reports during the election.
Of the 25 foreign observers, 11 are from Uganda who are involved with African Electoral Alliance (AEA).
Among the media persons, 12 are from AFP.
The election commission in a notification published in October last called on the prospective foreign observers and journalists to apply to observe the polls by 21 November.
The EC, however, on Tuesday informed the media that the time has been extended up to 7 December.
The EC said, among the 44 applications, four are from the European Union, 11 from AEA, three from the International Parliamentarian Congress (IPC), and four from South Asian Development Forum.
Besides, one each from Australia and Italy have applied to observe the election, said the EC.
Another foreign citizen applied to observe the election. He will send his papers on Wednesday.
Of the 12 media persons working with AFP, four are Bangladeshi citizens. Besides, two are from NDTV of India, four are from Japan, Germany, the UAE and Sweden.
A German freelance reporter has sent an application to the EC to observe the Bangladesh parliamentary election as well.