EC finalises 42,761 voting centres for next year's national election

During the 13th National Parliamentary Election, scheduled for February next year, a total of 42,761 voting centres will be operational, according to its final list released by the Election Commission (EC) today.

In addition, there will be 2,44,739 voting booths across the centres, it said.

"For male voters, there will be 1,15,137 voting booths, while for female voters, the number stands at 1,29,602 booths," EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told journalists at the commission's headquarters in Dhaka's Agargaon.

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Each voting centre will have an average of 3,000 voters, he said.

Earlier, on September 10, the secretary had mentioned that the final list of voting centres would be published by October 20. When asked about the seven-day delay, he explained, "It was prepared earlier, but the publication was slightly delayed."

The EC has yet to provide a legal justification for its decision to deny the water lily (shapla) symbol to National Citizen Party (NCP). When asked about it, the secretary said, "The commission has decided that there is no need to allocate that symbol. If you want a legal explanation for this, you should consult a legal expert, not me."

"The legal explanation is simple: the symbol is not included in our schedule. Therefore, it was not allotted. We have been saying this all along. The commission will explain why the symbol was not included in the schedule," he added.

The secretary further said, "As of now, I have not received any alternative proposal or suggestion [from NCP]. Therefore, the Election Commission's position remains that they will allocate a symbol according to their discretion."

Regarding the registration of political parties and observer organisations, he acknowledged that there had been delays. "Progress has been somewhat slow in two areas: political party registration and observer organisation registration. We have initially identified 22 political parties as eligible. Additional field-level information has been gathered for these parties. We expect to complete the process by the end of this week"

"We are slightly behind, but there is no cause for concern. Everything will be covered within the remaining time," he added.

When asked about the EC's preparedness for the election in light of the delays in these two key areas, the EC secretary said, "If you ask about percentages, I would say we are 90% to 95% ready in these two areas."

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Commenting on the registration of observer organisations, he said, "The review of domestic observer organisations is currently ongoing. In some cases, journalists have provided the necessary information. We hope to complete the registration process for observer organisations by the end of this week."

Regarding the possibility of a referendum being held on the same day as the parliamentary election, and whether it would increase the number of voting booths, Akhtar said, "The commission does not have any information on the referendum as of now."

With just four months remaining until the national election, when asked if a referendum could still be held during this period, the secretary responded, "Since the matter has not yet been brought to the commission, I cannot comment on it."