Bangladesh adds nearly 8 million new names to voter list

A total of 119 million voters will be able to cast their ballots in the upcoming general election

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 15 Jan 2023, 11:23 AM
Updated : 15 Jan 2023, 11:23 AM

Nearly 8 million new voters have been added in the latest update to the voter roll.

The update to the voter list ran from June to November last year. The final list will be issued on Mar 2.

The electoral roll is updated on the basis of data on eligible voters compiled by a national survey every three years. Surveyors go door to door to count the number of eligible voters and people in the 15-17 age range who will become eligible in the future. The previous surveys were done in 2016 and 2019.

“The Twelfth National Parliamentary Election will be held using the finalised voter list [from this survey],” Election Commission Secretary Jahangir Alam said on Sunday.

A total of 7,983,277 new voters became eligible for the list this time.

In 2022, the total number of voters was 113,287,010. The update will drop 2,209,129 dead voters from the list.

“After removing dead voters and adding the new ones, the total number of voters expanded by 5,774,148, or 5.1 percent,” the EC secretary said.

Once the draft of the voter list is released, voters will be able to send in any corrections to their local authority. Once their objections are corrected, the final voter list will be released on Mar 2.

A total of 119,061,158 voters will be able to cast their ballots in the upcoming general election.

AT A GLANCE

Mar 2, 2022 voter count – 113,287,010. Men – 57,689,529; Women – 55,597,027; Hijras – 454

New voters in 2022 update - 7,983,277. Men - 4,072,455; Women - 3,910,439; Hijras - 383

Dead voters removed – 2,209,129

Total voters in Jan 15, 2023 list – 119,061,158. Men – 69,383,112; Women – 58,677,209, Hijras – 837

The 12th National Parliamentary Election will be held at the end of 2023, or the start of 2024.

EC officials say that this year’s survey also collected information on people between the ages of 15-17 and eligible citizens left off previous voter lists.