Around 40,657 polling centres have been listed to serve 300 constituencies for the next parliamentary election.
Around Tk16.27crore will be allocated for cost of these centres. Dhaka region has the highest number of polling centres, with the cost estimated at Tk2.4 crore.
According to an official of the Budget department, fences will have to be assembled at each polling centre. An estimated Tk12.19 crore will be needed for all centres in this regard.
He said about 5% of the polling centres will be temporary, and will have to be set up. For the previous election, around Tk7,000 was needed for each centre. Due to rising costs, Tk10,000 will be proposed to set up each temporary centre for the upcoming election.
The Election Commission will propose Tk2,000 for each temporary booth—which cost Tk1,000 in the previous election.
More than Tk600 crore has been allocated for the upcoming general election, most of which is allocated for law enforcement agencies.
Mohammad Enamul Haque, senior assistant secretary with the Budget & Finance section of the Bangladesh Election Commission, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are yet to finalize the budget. But due to rising costs, we will propose at least Tk3,000 more for each polling centre, and Tk1,000 more for polling booth.
“We will be able to give an exact figure on expenditures at the end of September,” he added.
Meanwhile, the draft list of the 40,657 polling centres has already been submitted to the Election Commission. According to their instructions, the last date of any objection to the draft list is August 19, with the deadline for resolving problems set for August 30.
The list will be finalized on September 6.
The gazette with the final polling centre list for the 300 constituencies will be published after the scheduled declaration of the national polls.
Election Commission Deputy Secretary Abdul Halim Khan told the media: “We have more than 40,000 polling centres for over 100 million voters. At least 200,000 polling booths will be there. Voting centre lists are being organized adhering to policy. If there are any objections regarding this, they will be settled and finalized.”
In the last general election, there were 37,707 polling centres, with 189,000 polling booths, to serve 91.9 million voters.
Draft list of polling centres and polling booths:
Region | Probable number of polling centres | Male polling booths | Female polling booths | Total polling booths |
Rangpur | 4,468 | 10,705 | 12,425 | 23,130 |
Rajshahi | 5,087 | 13,157 | 14,767 | 27,924 |
Khulna | 4,802 | 11,476 | 12,882 | 24,358 |
Barisal | 2,619 | 6,542 | 6,714 | 13,256 |
Mymensingh | 5,375 | 11,931 | 13,290 | 25,221 |
Dhaka | 6,043 | 13,788 | 14,816 | 28,604 |
Faridpur | 2,033 | 6,681 | 5,220 | 11,901 |
Sylhet | 2,802 | 5,517 | 5,459 | 10,976 |
Comilla | 4,458 | 11,307 | 11,949 | 23,256 |
Chittagong | 2,970 | 7,845 | 7,982 | 15,827 |
Total | 40,657 | 98,949 | 1,05,504 | 2,04,459 |
