12th JS pollsEC arranging election materials

The Election Commission (EC) is arranging polling materials, including transparent ballot boxes, ballot papers, and voter lists for the next general election.

Officials said these items along with other important materials are being brought to the commission premises and will be sent to the field-level offices across the country from next week.

They said the commission has written a letter to the home ministry asking for the security of these items to be kept at regional, district and upazila election offices as well as thana election offices in metropolitan areas.

The commission, meanwhile, has completed the work of delimitation as part of its preparation for the 12th Jatiya Sangsad polls. Besides, the draft of the polling station has also been finalised, they said. 

“Currently, the law and order situation in Bangladesh is peaceful. The Election Commission thinks that no situation has arisen to cause concern so far. If any situation arises later, the commission will take all legal steps,” Election Commission Secretary Md Jahangir Alam told the media on Tuesday.  

The commission has given instructions to the field-level officers to prepare a constituency-wise voter list by November 2. Election-related purchases are almost over and materials have started arriving at the EC secretariat.

According to the EC draft list, the total number of polling stations will be 42,380 in the upcoming general election and there will be 2,61,668 polling booths.

Each booth will have a transparent ballot box, while one additional ballot box will also be kept ready for each polling centre. As a result, more than 3,00,000 ballot boxes will be required for the next polls.

The divisional commissioners, metropolitan police commissioners, deputy commissioners, superintendents of police, deputy inspectors general of police, regional election officers, and senior district and district election officers have already been trained for two days for election management. The second phase of training will be conducted on 28-29 October.

The commission is eying to hold the voting in the first week of January, while the polls schedule will be announced in early or mid-November, according to EC officials.