EC plans to extend voting hours for national election

The Election Commission (EC) is planning to extend voting hours by one hour due to the arrangement of both the national election and the referendum on the same day. A final decision on increasing the voting period and announcing the election schedule may be taken at the EC meeting on Sunday. The commission hopes to publish the schedule next week.

The interim government has already announced that the national election for next year and the referendum on the certificate issue will be held together in the first half of February and in July respectively. Chief Election Commissioner A M M Nasir Uddin has said that the schedule is likely to be announced in the second week of December.

EC sources said preparations are almost complete. As per the plan, the schedule may be announced between December 7 and December 11. This time, a two-month gap will be kept between the schedule declaration and the voting day, meaning the election may be held between February 5 and February 12.

Initially, preparations were made solely for the parliamentary elections. A total of 42,761 polling centres and 244,649 polling booths have been designated. However, the referendum will require each voter to cast two ballots, making extra time necessary.

Last Saturday, the EC conducted a mock voting exercise at a centre in Dhaka, where results showed that if two secret rooms are installed, additional polling centres may not be required. But due to limited infrastructure in rural areas, establishing new centres will be difficult. As a result, the EC is leaning towards extending voting hours.

Usually, voting takes place from 8am to 4pm. This time, the proposed schedule is from 7:30am to 4:30pm. February fog and reduced daylight have also contributed to the consideration.

Election Commissioner Anwarul Islam Sarker said the decisions on extending voting hours and announcing the schedule will be finalised at Sunday's meeting.