The 13th National Parliamentary Election will be held on February 12. On the same day, a referendum will also take place. Today evening, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A. M. M. Nasir Uddin announced the election schedule in an address to the nation.

According to the schedule, the last date for submission of nomination papers is December 29. Verification and scrutiny will take place from December 30 to January 4. The deadline for appeals against the Returning Officer’s decision is January 11, with appeal hearings scheduled from January 12 to 18. The last date to withdraw candidacy is January 20, and the final list of candidates with election symbols will be published on January 21.

The announcement further stated that official campaigning will run from January 22 until 7:30 AM on February 10.

As part of the schedule announcement preparations, the Election Commission (EC) met President Md. Sahabuddin at Bangabhaban yesterday to update him on the commission’s overall preparedness. The President expressed satisfaction with the EC’s readiness. Earlier, on December 7, the EC briefed Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus about the election preparations. The commission stated that all arrangements for holding the election and referendum in the first half of February are progressing on time, and the overall environment is favorable.

Meanwhile, the voter list for all 300 constituencies has been finalized. According to the new list, the total number of voters in the country is 127,695,183, including 64,814,907 male voters, 62,879,042 female voters, and 1,234 third-gender voters. Compared to the 12th parliamentary election, around 8 million new voters have been added this year.