United News of Bangladesh

The much-sought schedule for the 13th parliamentary election and the national referendum will be announced at 6pm on Thursday (December 11, 2025), Election Commission (EC) Senior Secretary Md Akhtar Ahmed said on Wednesday. “The schedule will be announced at 6pm on Thursday, with Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar airing the Chief Election Commissioner’s national address,” he said while talking to reporters at Nirbachan Bhaban in the afternoon. The CEC’s speech was already recorded by Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar on Wednesday afternoon, which will be aired at 6 pm on Thursday. Replying to a question, the secretary said the schedule would be declared for elections in all 300 constituencies. When asked about the Appellate Division’s directive to reinstate four constituencies in Bagerhat district, he said, “The schedule will be announced tomorrow. As of now, the decision is to announce the schedule for 300 seats because we have not received any court order yet. If corrections are needed later, that can be done accordingly.” The Appellate Division on Wednesday upheld a High Court verdict declaring the Election Commission's gazette—reducing the number of parliamentary seats in Bagerhat by one—as illegal. On September 4, the Election Commission finalised the delimitation of 300 constituencies, bringing changes to the boundaries of 46 parliamentary seats in 16 districts. The changes reduced the number of seats in Bagerhat from four to three and increased Gazipur’s seats from five to six. Following the Appellate Division’s verdict, now the Election Commission would need to reinstate four constituencies in Bagerhat and five constituencies in Gazipur district. Earlier on Wednesday, the Election Commission, headed by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, met President Mohammed Shahabuddin at Bangabhaban to brief overall preparations to hold the upcoming parliamentary elections and the referendum. Four election commissioners Abdur Rahmanel Masud, Tahmida Ahmad, Anwarul Islam Sarker and Brig Gen (Retd) Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah as well as EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed were present in the meeting. The President expressed satisfaction over the overall preparations undertaken by the EC for the upcoming election and the referendum. “The President expressed satisfaction after we informed him in detail,” EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said while talking to reporters after a meeting. The Secretary said they informed the President about extending the balloting hours by one hour—now set from 7:30am to 4:30pm. “When we said that we extended the balloting hour by one hour from 7:30am to 4:30pm, he termed the decision logical and expressed his satisfaction,” he said. During the meeting, he said, they apprised the President of various preparatory activities, including the updating of electoral rolls, the registration of new political parties and Out-of Country Voting (OCV) and In-Country Postal Voting (ICPV). The President was also briefed on the Commission’s plan to use two types of ballot papers—one for the national election and another for the referendum—to be held simultaneously on the same day, said Akhtar Ahmed. The President assured them that he would extend all necessary cooperation and support for the arrangement of a free, fair and meaningful election. There are some 12.76 crore voters under 42,761 polling stations across the country’s 300 constituencies. White ballot papers will be used for the national election and pink ballot papers for the referendum. Though the postal balloting system has been in the laws for a long time, it was never practiced in the previous elections. Read more: Prof Yunus calls upcoming election a historic chance to shape ‘new Bangladesh’ This is the first time the Election Commission is introducing a hybrid postal balloting system, enabling expatriates, government staff, polling personnel, and the persons who will be in the legal custody to exercise their franchise through a combination of digital registration and manual voting. Till Wednesday (December 10), nearly 300,000 expatriate voters from some 120 countries across the world have already registered through ‘Postal Vote Bd’ app to vote in the national election and referendum. The registration process for expatriates will continue till December 25. The ICPV (In-Country Postal Voting) registration process for the government staff on duty outside their voting places, polling personnel, and the persons under the legal custody (jails) will start after the announcement of election schedule and continue for 15 days. According to EC’s projection, some 10 lakh people from inside the country may vote through the postal ballot papers in the election.