Draft list of polling stations released today

The draft list of polling stations at the local level is being published for the upcoming 12th National Assembly elections. This list of possible polling stations will be published today on Wednesday (August 16) in different places including upazila election office, union parishad office.

In this regard, the senior district election officer of Dhaka. Munir Hossain Khan told the media on Tuesday (August 15) that all preparations for the release of the draft have been completed by visiting the polling stations through the appointed committee.

He said that on Wednesday (August 16) the local level offices of Dhaka district will be open for all like the rest of the country. If anyone has any claim or objection, they can submit the application within the stipulated time.

He also said that if the number of voters increases compared to the 11th parliamentary election, the polling stations will also increase in the twelfth parliamentary election. An attempt has been made to maintain the majority of the previous polling stations. Besides, some new centers have also been proposed.

Meanwhile Mymensingh regional election officer Mohammad Belayet Hossain Chowdhury told the media that for the convenience of everyone at the district and upazila levels, the list of draft polling stations will be published in the district election office, upazila election office, upazila executive officer's office, union parishad office on Wednesday.

He said, if there is an objection to a polling station or there is a demand to set up a polling station, there is a provision to make a written application in this regard. The convening committee under the leadership of the Deputy Commissioner will scrutinize these applications and take the next steps.

The Kazi Habibul Awal Commission is proceeding with preparations to complete the 12th parliamentary elections since the last week of December this year to the first week of January next year.

EC Additional Secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath told the media that the Election Commission will publish the gazette at least 25 days before the polls as per the rules and regulations after finalizing the list of draft polling stations by September.

Meanwhile, the draft list of polling stations was published on Wednesday (August 16), and the last date for objections on the published list is August 31. The last date for settling these claims is September 11 and the list of draft polling stations will be finalized on September 17. Besides, the list should be finalized and sent to the EC Secretariat on September 24 through the Regional Election Officer from the field level.

For this purpose, a committee has been constituted under the leadership of District Administrator and Upazila Nirbahi Officer according to EC polling station establishment and management policy. The said committee has prepared a possible list of polling stations by visiting the ground in all the constituencies with the concerned persons.

According to the sources of the Election Commission, there were 40 thousand 51 polling stations and two lakh polling booths for more than 104 million voters in the last 11th parliamentary elections.

There were 37 thousand 707 centers for 9 crore 19 lakh voters in the 10th parliamentary elections. At that time there were 1 lakh 89 thousand 078 polling booths.

Earlier there were 35 thousand 263 centers for 8 crore 1 million voters in the ninth parliamentary election. There were 277 polling stations out of 1 lakh 77 thousand.

This time there are 11 crore 92 lakh voters. Against this voter there may be as many as 42,000 polling stations.