National election: Govt to set up separate polling booths for young voters

Separate polling booths will be set up for young voters in the upcoming 13th national election, Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said today (11 August).

"To increase the participation of young voters and attract them, each polling centre will have a separate booth for them," he told reporters after inspecting polling centre No 3 at Teghoria High School in South Keraniganj, which is under Dhaka-3 constituency.

The adviser added that there will also be separate booths for male and female voters.

Highlighting preparations to ensure a festive and orderly election, he said the interim government is taking all-out measures to facilitate a smooth voting process.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs began election preparations well in advance. We have already instructed various law enforcement agencies assigned to election duties to undergo necessary training," he said.

Chief Adviser (CA) Muhammad Yunus, on 5 August, announced that he would formally request the chief election commissioner (CEC) to schedule the polls for February 2026.

After the CA's Office formally wrote to the CEC, CEC AMM Nasir Uddin on 9 August said the 13th national election will be held in the first half of February next year.

Yesterday (10 August), the Election Commission (EC) released the supplementary draft voter list for the 13th national polls, which is likely to be held in the first half of February next year.

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.

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