EC now says election roadmap likely to be unveiled on Sunday

Despite previous hints that the roadmap for the upcoming 13th national election would be unveiled this week, the Election Commission (EC) has now suggested that the announcement could come next Sunday (24 August).

"A briefing on the roadmap will be given on Sunday. It is possible [that the announcement would be made]," Election Commissioner Abu Fazal Md Sanaullah told reporters at the EC headquarters in Dhaka's Agargaon today (21 August).

Sanaullah was speaking to journalists at around 5pm during a break from a meeting the EC is holding to finalise the roadmap ahead of the parliamentary polls.

The meeting began at 2:30pm, with the participation of four election commissioners and senior officials of the EC Secretariat.

Commissioner Sanaullah told reporters, "We have started discussions on the work plan. Since there are many issues to go over, the discussion may not conclude today. In that case, we might have to wait until Sunday or Monday."

He further added that after discussions with the commissioners and officials, the overall progress will be reported to Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, and the final plan will be announced later.

However, on 18 August, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed had said that the EC has finalised the draft action plan for the election and will publish the complete roadmap this week.

The draft has been prepared after inter-departmental coordination and will be placed before the commission for approval within the week, he said.

Akhtar further said hearings on objections and suggestions concerning the delimitation of 83 parliamentary constituencies will commence on 24 August and continue for four consecutive days.

He also confirmed that the number of polling centres will not increase, with each centre expected to accommodate 3,000 voters. 

EC sources estimate that the number of voters in the upcoming election will approach 13 crore, compared with over 12 crore in the last parliamentary polls, which required more than 42,000 polling centres.

The 13th national election is expected to be held in early February 2026, ahead of Ramadan, which will begin on 17 or 18 February - subject to the new crescent moon's sighting.

On 10 August, the EC released the supplementary draft voter list. Following the addition of new voters and removal of ineligible ones, Bangladesh now has a total of 12,61,70,900 registered voters as of 30 June.

That day, Akhtar also said objections and claims regarding the draft list can be submitted until 21 August.

The final voter list will be published on 31 August after resolving these issues, he added.

As of 2 March this year, the total number of voters stood at 12,37,32,274. In a follow-up drive to enlist excluded eligible voters, officials collected information door-to-door, adding 45,71,216 new voters to the list.

During the same period, 21,32,590 names -- dead or ineligible -- were removed from the list.

Of the total, 6,40,06,916 are male voters and 6,21,62,760 are female voters, Akhtar said, adding that the rate of voter inclusion in 2025 is 3.69% and the rate of increase of voters is 1.97%.

"We will finalise the draft voter list on 31 August. In addition, we will publish another list, including those who will be 18 years of age by 31 October.

"This opportunity has been provided in the new law so that new voters do not have to wait for a year," said the senior secretary.