Bangladesh voter roll rises to 12.86 crore ahead of local polls

Bangladesh’s total number of registered voters has risen to 128,632,555, with 309,315 new voters added over the past two months and 18 days, the Election Commission (EC) said today.

The updated voter roll will be used for the upcoming local government elections, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told reporters at a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka.

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The EC last updated the voter roll on May 14, when the total number of registered voters stood at 128,323,240.

“We are focusing on the local government elections for now,” Akhtar said. “If the election date changes or the commission takes a different decision later, this list will serve as a supplementary one.”

The commission has also sent draft codes of conduct for elections to five tiers of local government bodies to the Ministry of Law for vetting, following the inclusion of additional provisions.

The draft codes cover city corporations, district councils, upazila parishads, municipalities and union parishads.

“The draft codes of conduct for local government elections have today been sent to the law ministry,” Akhtar said, adding that the legal framework for the elections was still being processed and would be sent to the ministry once completed.

Meanwhile, the EC began distributing nomination papers for the presidential election today.

Two nomination papers have so far been collected by the BNP, by Vice Chairman and Jatiya Sangsad Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni and Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

No other political party or candidate has collected nomination papers yet, Akhtar said in the afternoon.