Dhaka, Dec 11 (V7N) – The schedule for the 13th National Parliament Election and the referendum to implement the July National Charter will be announced today. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin is set to unveil the schedule in a televised address to the nation at 6 pm on Thursday.

At a briefing held on Wednesday (December 10) at the Election Building in Agargaon, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed confirmed the announcement. He stated that, as there are no complications regarding constituency boundaries, the schedule will be released for all 300 seats.

Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, the CEC and the full commission met President Md. Shahabuddin at Bangabhaban. In line with tradition, the EC apprised the President of overall preparations, field-level progress, the political atmosphere, and the current law-and-order situation ahead of announcing the schedule. The President assured the commission of maximum cooperation in ensuring free and fair elections and also supported the proposal to extend voting hours by one hour.

Following the meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, the commission returned to the Election Building, where the EC Senior Secretary later briefed the media about the discussions.

The Awami League government stepped down on August 5, 2024, following a massive student-public uprising. An interim government, led by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, took office on August 8. The EC is announcing the election schedule 16 months after the interim administration assumed responsibility.

A total of 127.695 million voters are eligible to participate in the 13th National Parliament elections. To accommodate voters, the EC has finalized 42,766 polling stations across the country.

As the national elections and the referendum will be held on the same day, the EC has extended the voting period by one hour and arranged two secret booths per room to ensure smoother and faster voting.

END/SMA/AJ