Election schedule to be announced today

The schedule for the 13th national parliamentary election and the referendum on implementing the July National Charter will be announced today, Thursday. In an address to the nation at 6:00 pm, chief election commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin will announce the election schedule.

In the face of the student–public uprising, the Awami League government fell on 5 August last year. On 8 August, the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus was formed. Sixteen months after the interim government took office, the Election Commission is going to announce the national election schedule.

Initially, some parties, including the BNP, had demanded that the national election be held by December last year. On 6 June, in an address to the nation, chief adviser professor Muhammad Yunus stated that the election would take place in the first half of April 2026. Later, on 13 June, BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman met with the chief adviser in London, United Kingdom.

In the London meeting, the two sides agreed that the national election would be held in the first half of February 2026. Since then, the government has repeatedly stated that the election will take place in early February, and the election commission is preparing accordingly.

On 13 November, the chief adviser announced that the referendum on implementing the July national charter and the national parliamentary election would be held on the same day in the first half of February. Today, in an address to the nation, the chief election commissioner will announce the dates for both votes.

It is customary for the Election Commission to meet the president before announcing the schedule for the national parliamentary election. Accordingly, yesterday afternoon, led by the chief election commissioner, the election commissioners met president Md Sahabuddin at Bangabhaban.

Returning from Bangabhaban, EC secretary Akhtar Ahmed told reporters that the CEC had briefed the president on various aspects of election preparations, including the voter list, registration of political parties, management of the national election and the referendum simultaneously, voting by expatriates, and the vote-counting process. The president expressed satisfaction with the EC’s preparations.

Earlier, the 12th national parliamentary election was held on 7 January 2024. Boycotted by opposition parties, that one-sided election under the Awami League government was controversial. The 11th and 10th parliamentary elections had also faced widespread criticism.

After the fall of the Awami League government, a new Election Commission was formed on 21 November last year under the leadership of AMM Nasir Uddin. The upcoming election will be the first to be held under this commission. This time, the national parliamentary election and the referendum are being held on the same day, and the Election Commission sees the timing of the two votes as a challenge.

To manage time, the Election Commission has decided to extend polling by one hour this time. Continuous voting will take place from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm. In addition, the number of secret voting booths at polling stations will also be increased.

In the meantime, maintaining law and order during the election is also being seen as a challenge. The government has already stated that after the schedule is announced, all forces responsible for law and order, including the armed forces, will work to ensure a secured electoral environment.

Nearly 900,000 members of the armed forces and other law enforcement agencies will be deployed, the highest number ever. To conduct a fair election, a record 150,000 police officers have already received election training.

Ahead of the 13th parliamentary election, the Election Commission published a gazette on 4 September defining the boundaries of 300 parliamentary seats. This reduced one seat in Bagerhat district to three and increased one seat in Gazipur to six. A writ petition was filed in the High Court regarding the reduction of a seat in Bagerhat. On 10 November, the High Court ordered the restoration of four seats in Bagerhat, as before.

The Election Commission and others filed appeals with the Appellate Division against the High Court’s ruling. After the hearing, the Appellate Division yesterday dismissed the appeals, upholding the High Court’s order to reinstate four parliamentary seats in Bagerhat as before. The five-member Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Syed Refat Ahmed, issued the order unanimously.

Earlier, the High Court had directed the Election Commission to restore four parliamentary constituencies in Bagerhat and publish the gazette within 24 hours. The ruling stated that, based on the latest 2022 census, the commission was ordered to restore and gazette the parliamentary constituencies as before according to the 1 July 2023 gazette: constituency number 95 (Bagerhat-1), constituency number 96 (Bagerhat-2), constituency number 97 (Bagerhat-3), and constituency number 98 (Bagerhat-4).

The ruling stated that the constituency-related portions of the 4 September gazette notification (EC’s proclamation) attached to the writ petition—constituency number 95 (Bagerhat-1), constituency number 96 (Bagerhat-2), constituency number 97 (Bagerhat-3), and constituency number 198 (Gazipur-6)—were declared illegal and beyond legal authority.

However, as of yesterday evening, the Election Commission had not yet received a copy of the Appellate Division’s order. The schedule will be announced today based on the boundaries of the 300 constituencies as determined on 4 September.

In response to a relevant query from the newspersons EC secretary Akhter Ahmed said that the commission had not yet received a copy of the court order. Once the copy is received, the commission will make a decision. For now, the decision is to announce the schedule based on the gazette defining the boundaries of the 300 constituencies. Corrections can be made if necessary after receiving the court order.