Staff Correspondent:

The Election Commission (EC) has released the supplementary draft voter list ahead of the upcoming 13th national election, which is likely to be held in the first half of February next year.

Following the addition of new voters and removal of ineligible ones, Bangladesh now has a total of 12,61,70,900 registered voters as of 30 June, according to EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed.

Speaking to journalists at the EC headquarters in Dhaka’s Agargaon on Sunday (August 10), he said objections and claims regarding the draft list can be submitted until 21 August.

The final voter list will be published on 31 August after resolving these issues, he added.

The senior secretary noted that as of 2 March this year, the total number of voters stood at 12,37,32,274. In a follow-up drive to enlist excluded eligible voters, officials collected information door-to-door, adding 45,71,216 new voters to the list.

During the same period, 21,32,590 names — dead or ineligible — were removed from the list, he said.

Overall, he said, as per the supplementary voter list updated until 30 June this year, the total number of voters in the country stands at 12,61,70,900.

Of the total, 6,40,06,916 are male voters and 6,21,62,760 are female voters, Akhtar said, adding that the rate of voter inclusion in 2025 is 3.69% and the rate of increase of voters is 1.97%.

Noting that the supplementary draft voter list has been published in all EC offices around the country on Sunday he said if anyone has any corrections in this regard, they can freely inform the EC about it.

“We will finalise the draft voter list on 31 August. In addition, we will publish another list, including those who will be 18 years of age by 31 October.

“This opportunity has been provided in the new law so that new voters do not have to wait for a year,” said the senior secretary