The Election Commission (EC) is planning to set up two secret stamping places instead of one inside each polling booth to ensure smooth voter flow during the next parliamentary election and the referendum, both to be held simultaneously in a single day in February next.
The move comes as the Commission anticipates that voters will require more time to cast their ballots since they will vote both in the national election and the referendum.
“In one booth we initially calculated for one stamping place. Now we plan to install two (stamping places) so that the flow of voters remains uninterrupted,” said EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed while briefing reporters after a high-level meeting with concerned top government officials at Nirbachan Bhaban on Sunday.
The two-hour meeting, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin, was attended by senior representatives, including secretaries, directors general and chairmen from more than 30 relevant ministries, divisions and state bodies.
The discussion focused on 22 major issues related to the upcoming national election and referendum.
The EC Secretary said the number of polling stations won’t be required based on the assessment of data of the mock voting exercise conducted on Saturday.
“A question came up whether we need additional polling stations. From the preliminary data collected during yesterday's mock voting, we saw that if we set up two secret stamping places inside each booth, we won’t need to increase the number of polling stations,” he said.
Replying to a question whether the issue of having two secret stamping places in each booth was in practice in the past, he said, “I have not voted for the last 15 years (during the Awami League’s regime). I cannot say,” he said.
Election of Century
Focusing on the scale of the upcoming polls, the EC Secretary said, “It will be the largest election in 2026.”
Noting that the Chief Adviser recently described it as ‘an election of the century’, he said several fundamental aspects require special attention—holding both a national election and a referendum together for the first time, bringing expatriate Bangladeshis under out-of-country voting, printing ballot papers in advance for the expatriates and ensuring real-time communication across the system.
Raising Allowances
The Election Commission considers increasing the amount of allowance and the financial benefits for the election officers to prevent them from accepting the hospitality from local influential persons during their election duties.
Akhtar Ahmed stressed that polling officials must not accept hospitality from local influential persons under any circumstances.
“We repeatedly hear that election officials often accept hospitality from influential local figures on different occasions. We said this must not happen under any circumstance. The main thing we have done is to increase their allowance and consider providing some additional financial benefits for discharging their election duties so that they don’t become dependent on others,” he said.
Expat Voters
The EC senior secretary said the temporary suspension of out-of-country voter (OCV) registration in several countries has now been lifted after fixing technical inconsistencies, especially the mismatch between submitted information and the required format.
The seven countries are Bahrain, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
He said an edit mode has been added to the Postal Vote BD app, which has already been downloaded over 210,000 times, with nearly 100,000 expatriates successfully registering so far.
He said the EC has already requested the state-owned BTV and Sangsad TV to carry out an extensive campaign – national election, out-of-country voting (OCV) and referendum.
Akhtar Ahmed also requested the private television channels and the relatives and friends of expatriates to encourage expatriates to complete their registration and vote in the 2026 election.
About the postal ballots inside the country, he said three categories of voters are eligible to vote by postal ballot inside Bangladesh: government officials on duty, those who will be engaged in election duty, and detainees under lawful custody including prisons. But the in-country postal voting (ICPV) app is not yet launched, he added.
He said all relevant ministries have been asked to nominate a contact point for emergency coordination. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will assign contact persons in mission offices abroad, and the Expatriates’ Welfare Ministry has been asked to sensitize labour councillors to motivate expatriates.
During the meeting, it was informed that the Home Ministry would act as the lead agency for election-time security, and the government agencies concerned have been instructed to prioritize awareness on referendum campaigning, OCV registration, conduct rules, prevention of misuse of artificial intelligence, and voter education.
Akhtar Ahmed said voter turnout is closely linked to voter education, and campaign activities will gradually expand up to the union level with support from the Information Ministry.
He said installing two secret stamping centers in each polling booth—especially because voters must read and stamp on four referendum questions—may require additional budgetary allocation. “We will elaborate on these matters later,” he added.
Among the 22 issues discussed in the meeting were the repair and renovation of access roads and physical structures of polling stations and booths; preparation of panels of polling officers; uninterrupted electricity supply for polling activities; removal of existing campaign materials from electoral areas; preparation of action plans for collection and compilation of loan-default information; manpower, transport and logistical support; steps by local administration and local government bodies to ensure law and order; review of academic and public examination schedules; strategies to prevent the spread of misinformation and disinformation on social media using AI tools; and ensuring communal harmony and the security of minority communities.
Other issues included assistance in appointing election observers; arrangements for transporting electoral materials and polling officials in remote and hilly regions, including providing helicopters for the Commission; measures to carry out election-related publicity, awareness and motivation through media; budget allocation and related financial activities; appointment of executive magistrates to enforce the electoral code of conduct; daily weather updates; formation of medical teams and health service arrangements; immediate fire and disaster management measures; restrictions on vehicular and water transport during the election period; support for postal voting and management of postal ballots; and balloting arrangements for people behind legal bars, including prisoners and detainees.
Earlier, on October 30, the Commission held a similar meeting with senior officials from 31 ministries, divisions and agencies.
On November 27, the EC held a second-phase meeting with law enforcement agencies, including the armed forces, as part of its efforts to finalise the deployment strategy for security personnel during the upcoming national election and referendum. The first such security meeting took place on October 20 to ensure a free, fair and participatory 13th parliamentary election.
Earlier, the Election held dialogues with 47 registered political parties, including BNP, Jamaat and National Citizen Party-NCP on November 13, 16, 17 and 19 last.
In late September 2025, the Commission opened a series of electoral dialogues with different stakeholders amid talks with civil society representatives on September 28.
Later, the EC held separate dialogues with 47 registered political parties, including BNP, Jamaat and NCP, as well as the representatives of teachers, senior journalists from different media outlets, election experts and election observers.
The Election Commission will announce the schedule in the second week of December for holding the next general election and referendum on the July National Charter in a single day in early February 2026.