13Th general election: 45,000 polling centres, 2.8 lakh booths likely

The Election Commission will train 9,31,131 polling officials ahead of the upcoming national election, which could have more than 45,000 polling centres and 2.8 lakh booths.

The training programme is likely to begin in September as part of the preparations for conducting the polls.

The polls will be held in the first half of February next year, with the EC planning to declare the schedule in the first half of December.

In preparation, the EC has already updated the voter list, is redrawing parliamentary constituencies, and making arrangements for expatriate voting.

Once the proposed amendments to the Representation of the People Order (RPO) and the Election Conduct Rules are forwarded to the law ministry for swift approval, the printing of manuals and guidelines will begin. The materials will serve as key resources for training election officials.

The EC also aims to complete tasks like voter registration, training of officials, and procurement of election materials by September.

A meeting on August 6 discussed preparations for forming a panel of polling officials and supervising their training.

The minutes of the meeting, chaired by Election Commissioner Tahmida Ahmed, were issued by the EC Secretariat yesterday.

Tahmida is the head of the committee on preparing the panel of polling officials and supervising their training for the 13th general election.

A total of 8,86,790 polling officials will be required, according to the EC's letter.

Following the 2025 voter list update, the number of potential voters for the 13th election may reach 127,873,752, according to the letter.

In the 12th general election, there were 119,689,289 voters, 42,148 polling centres, and 261,564 polling booths.

The Electoral Training Institute in Dhaka will organise training for divisional commissioners, police commissioners, deputy inspector generals (DIGs), deputy commissioners, superintendents of police, returning officers, magistrates, and other relevant administrative and law enforcement officials as well as executive and judicial magistrates and election officials before and after the announcement of the election schedule.

Core and trainer training (ToT) programmes are usually launched three to three-and-a-half months before the schedule announcement.

This time, the EC intends to begin the trainer training programme in September. A total of 3,600 officials will receive training under this programme.

Regarding the election preparation, EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said that as part of the trainer training programme, a small-scale session has been initiated for EC Secretariat officials. The required number of ToT sessions will then be completed in phases.

Meanwhile, on August 7, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said the EC was preparing to announce the schedule in December so that the polls can be held in February next year as announced by Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus.