The Election Commission has started printing ballot papers for the upcoming 11th general elections.
The Government Printing Press took the responsibility to have the ballot papers printed ahead of the election.
Sayed Golam Rashed, assistant secretary of the Procurement section of Election Management Wing 2 of the Election Commission, told the Dhaka Tribune that officials of the commission brought the documents to the Government Printing Press on Tuesday night.
According to the Commission, there are more than 104.2 million voters across the country. One ballot paper is needed for each voter.
However, the commission is yet to compile an exact figure of how many ballot papers are to be printed, as Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used in six constituencies.
According to the Election Commission, there are 4,267 polling booths in 800 polling centres in the constituencies where EVMs are to be used.
The Commission has already declared which constituencies EVMs will be used in, and it has been calculated that there are 2,124,411 voters in those constituencies. As a result, 2.124 million ballot papers will not be printed, Golam Rashed said.
“We have given the responsibility of printing all ballot papers to the Government Printing Press. They will delegate part of the printing task to Bangladesh Government Press (BG press) and Security Printing Press,” he further said.
These ballot papers will be distributed to all polling centres one day before voting begins, he added.
Enamul Haque, senior assistant secretary of the Election Commission Budget Department, said around Tk35 crore has been allocated for the printing of ballot papers. “We have already sent around Tk22 crore to Government Printing Press, and the rest of the money will be sent soon.”
The 11th general election is scheduled to take place on December 30.