EC wants polling officer panels ready by October for national election

It plans to train around 1.09 million polling officers for the upcoming polls

The Election Commission (EC) has ordered the preparation of a nationwide panel of polling officials by the end of October as part of preparations for the 13th national election.

Letters sent to district election officers on Tuesday instructed them to compile lists of presiding officers, assistant presiding officers, and polling officers.

According to the directive, the panels must be ready and reported to the EC Secretariat by Oct 30.

Bangladesh currently has more than 126.3 million registered voters, with another one million expected to be added after Oct 31. In the last parliamentary election, over 900,000 polling officials were deployed across 42,000 polling centres and 167,000 booths.

This time, the EC plans to train around 1.09 million polling officials, including an additional 10 percent reserve workforce to ensure smooth conduct of the polls.

Each polling centre requires a presiding officer, while each booth requires one assistant presiding officer and two polling officers. In total, 8–10 polling officers are typically needed per centre.

Although the panels are set to be finalised in October, appointments will only be made once the official election schedule is announced in December. Officials deemed neutral and competent will be chosen from the panel and trained in stages.