EC to get Tk2,956cr to conduct polls

The government has allocated Tk 2,956 crore in the proposed national budget for the Election Commission (EC) to conduct the next general election in a free and fair manner.

The next general election will take place during the next financial year in line with the government announcement and the EC will spend the funds in holding the election in a fair manner, Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said on Monday.

In his budget speech, he said that out of the total amount, Tk 2,727 crore has been allocated from the revenue budget, while Tk 229 crore has been earmarked from the development budget.

Besides, the total allocation for the EC was Tk 141,85,8800 in the previous budget.

He said one of the goals of the Interim Government is to establish people’s voting rights through a free and fair election and to hand over power to a democratic government.

In the last one and a half decades, the country's electoral system has been completely tampered with an evil attempt.

“We, therefore, have given the highest priority to reform the electoral system and to this end have made amendments and reforms in various laws, policies and orders,” he said.

The voter list has already been updated by the Bangladesh Election Commission (EC) to hold the next parliamentary election in a fair manner.

Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is being used to ensure transparency, impartiality and proper data analysis in the election system, said the finance adviser.