Gazipur to have one more parliamentary seat, Bagerhat to lose one: EC

The technical committee for constituency delimitation has proposed to add one parliamentary seat in Gazipur, which has the highest number of voters in the country.

Conversely, due to a low number of voters in Bagerhat, the committee has proposed removing one seat from that district.

Boundary changes are coming to 39 out of the country's 300 parliamentary constituencies, taking into account population, number of voters, and overall factors.

Election Commissioner Md Anwarul Islam Sarkar shared this information with journalists today (30 July) at his office in the Election Commission headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka. Anwarul added that the technical committee has submitted recommendations for redrawing constituency boundaries.

He explained that according to Section 6 of the Delimitation of Constituencies Act, 2021, administrative arrangements, geographical integrity, and census data must be considered during the delimitation process. However, some inconsistencies have been observed in the 2022 census data.

"We have the most up-to-date voter registration data. Based on this, the committee calculated the average number of voters per constituency, which stands at approximately 4,20,000," Anwarul said.

"The committee then graded districts by voter count – identifying the district with the most and the least voters. According to their findings, Gazipur has the highest voter population, and the committee proposed an additional seat there.

"Bagerhat, with the lowest number of voters, is proposed to lose one seat. The Election Commission has taken its decision in line with these recommendations," he said.

The 39 constituencies where boundaries will be changed are Panchagarh-1, 2; Rangpur-3; Sirajganj-1, 2; Satkhira-3, 4; Shariatpur-2, 3; Dhaka-2, 3, 7, 10, 14, 19; Gazipur-1, 2, 3, 5, 6; Narayanganj-3, 4, 5; Sylhet-1, 3; Brahmanbaria-2, 3; Cumilla-1, 2, 10, 11; Noakhali-1, 2, 4, 5; Chattogram-7, 8; and Bagerhat-2, 3.