Counting of votes in Bangladesh’s 13th National Parliament Election has begun after voting ended at 4:30pm on Thursday in 299 constituencies across the country.
Voting started at 7:30am and continued uninterrupted through ballot papers in transparent ballot boxes at 42,659 polling stations nationwide. The election in Sherpur-3 constituency was postponed following the death of a Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami candidate.
According to the Election Commission (EC), a total of 47.91% votes were cast in 36,031 centers until 2pm.
Briefing reporters at the Election Commission, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said voting took place at 42,651 centers across the country.
“Until 2pm, 47.91% votes have been cast in 36,031 centers. Though the rate was low at noon, it increased later,” he said.
Responding to allegations raised by Jamaat, the EC secretary said the matter will be looked into.
A total of 127,298,522 voters in 299 constituencies were eligible to cast their ballots. Of them, 64,620,077 were male voters, 62,677,232 female voters and 1,213 third-gender voters.
However, the total number of registered voters across 300 constituencies stands at 127,711,899, including 64,825,154 male voters, 62,885,525 female voters and 1,220 transgender voters.
Jhalakathi-1 had the lowest number of voters at 228,431, while Gazipur-2 had the highest at 804,333.
Polling was held in 299 parliamentary constituencies, excluding Sherpur-3. The Election Commission canceled the election there following the death of a candidate.
A total of 51 political parties participated in the election, with 2,034 candidates in the race, including 275 independent contenders.
The BNP fielded the highest number of candidates — 291 — contesting with the paddy sheaf symbol. Islami Andolon Bangladesh nominated 258 candidates with the hand fan symbol, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami had 229 candidates with the Dari Palla (scales) symbol, and the Jatiya Party fielded 198 candidates with the plough symbol. The National Citizen Party nominated 32 candidates with the water lily bud symbol.
There were 247,482 polling booths in 42,779 polling centers across the 299 constituencies.
Around 800,000 officials were engaged in election duties, while nearly 900,000 members were deployed to maintain law and order.
A total of 55,454 observers from 81 domestic organizations, along with around 500 foreign observers, monitored the election.