The long-awaited 13th Jatiya Sangsad election and referendum are going to be held on Thursday (February 12).
Voting will begin at 7:30am and conclude at 4:30pm without any break through ballot papers using transparent ballot boxes in 299, out of 300, parliamentary constituencies across the country.
The EC has recently cancelled the election in Sherpur-3 constituency following the death of a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate. As a result, voting will be held in 299, out of 300 constituencies.
Election Commissioner Md Anwarul Islam Sarker said the commission has already taken necessary preparations so that voters cast their ballots in a free, fair and peaceful manner. Now it is the task of voters to exercise their voting rights visiting the polling centres.
He said the highest number of law enforcers have been deployed this time in the history of Bangladesh to ensure security in the election.
Referring the presence of voters in the election, Md Anwarul Islam Sarker said, "I personally think that the rate of voting in the election is likely to be more or less than 55 per cent."
EC Secretariat's Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said there is nothing to be worried about voting. Though any major untoward incident has not been happened so far, two people have lost their lives in two seperate incidents which were very condenmable. At that same time, he urged voters to go to the polling centres and cast their ballots without any fear.
AA total of 12,77,11,899 voters will cast their votes in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) elections and referendum on February 12, according to Election Commission (EC) sources.
EC data shows that of the total voters, 6,48,25,154 are male and 6,28,85,525 female, while 1,220 belong to the third gender.
The EC recently cancelled the election in Sherpur-3 constituency following the death of a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate. As a result, voting will be held in 299, out of 300 constituencies.
Among the constituencies, the lowest number of voters is in Jhalakathi-1 with 2,28,431 voters, while Gazipur-2 has the highest with 8,04,333 voters.
Election Commission National Identity Registration Wing Director (Operations) and Central Coordination Committee Member Secretary Md Saiful Islam said a total of 51 political parties are taking part in the election. The total number of candidates is 2,034, including 275 independent contestants.
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