EC publishes constituency-wise polling details ahead of 12 Feb vote
The election will see nearly 13 crore voters across 300 constituencies, with 42,761 polling centres and more than 2.45 lakh polling booths.
The Election Commission (EC) has begun publishing constituency-wise gazettes detailing polling centres, polling booths, and voter numbers for the upcoming 13th national parliamentary election. The polls, including a concurrent referendum, are scheduled for 12 February.
According to EC Deputy Secretary Monir Hossain, the final lists of polling centres for each constituency are being gazetted from 15 January, following EC approval. Under the Representation of the People Order (RPO), final polling centre lists must be published at least 25 days before the election.
The election will see nearly 13 crore voters across 300 constituencies, with 42,761 polling centres and more than 2.45 lakh polling booths. To facilitate voting for both the parliamentary election and referendum, additional secret compartments (marking places) have been added to each booth.
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For the first time, postal ballots will be available to three groups of voters, including expatriates. Over 15.33 lakh voters have already registered for postal voting. The gazette includes constituency names, upazilas, unions, polling centre locations, voter numbers, booth distribution (male, female, hijra), and the number of secret compartments. Postal ballot voter numbers are also listed, along with the names and locations of counting centres at district commissioner offices.
Security arrangements
Considering the importance of polling centres, 16 to 18 security personnel will be deployed at each centre. The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a circular detailing law enforcement deployment from 8 to 14 February. In general polling centres, 16 personnel from police, integrated and general Ansar, VDP, and village police will be posted, while important centres will have 18 personnel. Two to four armed police members will be assigned based on the centre's significance.
According to Home Affairs Adviser Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, the total security deployment for the election includes 1 lakh army personnel, 5,000 navy, 3,730 air force, 1,49,443 police, 5,76,314 Ansar-VDP, 37,453 BGB, 3,585 Coast Guard, 7,700 RAB, and 13,390 fire service personnel — a total of 8,97,117 law enforcement and support personnel.
The 42,761 polling centres have been categorised by importance: 8,780 are high-priority, 16,548 are important, and 17,433 are standard centres.
