The 13th national election and referendum 2026 will be held tomorrow, with voting taking place simultaneously in 299 parliamentary constituencies across the country from 7:30am to 4:30pm, without any break.
The Election Commission (EC) has cancelled voting in Sherpur-3 following the death of a candidate. As a result, polls will be held in 299 of the 300 constituencies.
Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Machud told BSS that all preparations have been completed and extensive security measures put in place to ensure a free, fair and peaceful election. Nearly 900,000 members of law enforcement agencies have been deployed nationwide, including more than 100,000 army personnel.
He said the entire country has been brought under tight security and the law and order situation remains normal. Expressing optimism, he urged voters to come to polling centres in groups and cast their votes in a festive atmosphere. He also encouraged young voters to actively participate, noting that many citizens are voting after a long gap.
Election Commissioner Md Anwarul Islam Sarkar said the commission has completed all administrative, technical and security preparations. He added that the priority now is voter participation. He said the highest number of law enforcement personnel in the country’s history has been deployed for the polls, and no major untoward incidents have been reported so far.
Regarding turnout, he said voter participation could be slightly below or above 55 percent.
According to EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed, voting will be held at 42,779 polling centres, with 247,482 polling rooms nationwide.
A total of 50 political parties are contesting the election, with 2,028 candidates in the race. Of them, 1,755 represent political parties and 273 are independents. There are 83 female candidates—63 from parties and 20 independents. BNP has fielded the highest number of candidates, with 291 contenders.
EC data show that 127,711,893 voters are registered in the 299 constituencies. Among them are 64,825,361 male voters, 62,885,200 female voters and 1,232 third-gender voters.
About 800,000 officials will be on duty to conduct the election, including returning officers, assistant returning officers, presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling officers. Around 15,000 officials will manage postal voting.
Election Commissioner Brigadier General (retd) Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah said about 958,000 members of law enforcement agencies have been deployed. For the first time, UAVs, drones and body-worn cameras are being used to strengthen election security.
The security deployment includes 103,000 army troops, 3,500 air force personnel, 5,000 navy members, 37,453 Border Guard Bangladesh personnel, 3,585 Coast Guard members, 187,603 police personnel, 9,349 RAB members, 567,868 Ansar members and 1,922 BNCC members.
A total of 2,098 executive magistrates and 657 judicial magistrates have been appointed to oversee election duties and handle election-related offences. Judicial magistrates will remain on duty from February 10 to February 14.
More than 55,000 local observers from 81 organisations will monitor the election. In addition, at least 394 international observers and 197 foreign journalists are in Bangladesh to observe the polls and the referendum.
Key observer missions include the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), the Commonwealth Secretariat, the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and others. Observers have also arrived from more than 20 countries across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
According to the EC, 1,533,684 overseas and domestic voters have registered for postal voting through the Postal Vote BD mobile app.
Voting will be conducted using ballot papers and transparent ballot boxes. Any voter present within the polling centre premises by 4:30pm will be allowed to cast their vote, in line with the law.
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