Formed on 21 November 2024 under the leadership of AMM Nasir Uddin, the new Election Commission (EC) rose from the ashes of July mass uprising under the shadow of three highly controversial polls.
In its one year of service, this commission has introduced significant reforms to the electoral system, while also becoming embroiled in legal complexities and controversies.
The Nasir Uddin Commission has taken a series of positive steps, making major amendments to the Representation of the People Order (RPO) and the Code of Conduct, removing a record number of deceased voters from the list, and creating the opportunity for expatriates to vote via postal ballot for the first time.
It has also faced intense debate, political discord, and legal challenges over political party registration, parliamentary constituency boundary delimitation, project expenditure, and administrative decisions.
As the commission counts down to the mammoth task of holding both the 13th parliamentary election and referendum on 12 February 2026, security concerns persist. Ultimately, whether the commission can deliver an acceptable election is their biggest trial by fire.
Controversy over party registration
After assuming office, the EC in March 2025 called for applications from political parties seeking registration. A total of 143 parties applied, but 121 parties were eliminated in the initial screening.
After field-level investigations of the remaining 22 parties, the commission announced on 30 September that a decision had been made to register the National Citizen Party (NCP) and the Bangladesh Jatiya League.
Complications then arose over the allocation of the NCP’s electoral symbol. Faced with the party’s firm stance on the “Shapla” (Water Lily) symbol, the EC added a new symbol, “Shapla Koli” (Water Lily Bud), to the list.
The NCP eventually accepted this symbol. Meanwhile, as various objections were raised against the Jatiya League, the EC began a re-investigation into the party in mid-October. At the same time, information for 10 other parties in the registration pipeline was re-verified.
Following the re-investigation, the Jatiya League was dropped from the registration list. At this stage, decisions were announced to register NCP, Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist), and Bangladesh Aam Jonogon Party (BAJP).
However, due to objections against Aam Jonogon Party, its registration has not yet been finalised.
Meanwhile, in protest at not receiving registration, the Am Janatar Dal began a sit-in hunger strike unto death in front of the Election Commission.
BNP leaders Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Salahuddin Ahmed, and Ishraq Hossain, among other political figures, expressed solidarity with the party’s Member Secretary, Tarek Rahman. Some even met with the EC.
Under the circumstances, the commission decided to reconsider the applications of the Am Janatar Dal and six other parties. After verification, Am Janatar Dal and Janatar Dal were granted registration.
EC sources indicate that, apart from the NCP, none of the parties have been able to fulfil the conditions for registration. They state that the Election Commission has shown flexibility regarding the parties.
The Am Janatar Dal could only show offices in 33 per cent of districts. Other parties are in a similar state, making it difficult to say on what basis these parties received registration.
EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed and Election Commissioner Md Anwarul Islam have also acknowledged that the commission showed flexibility in the registration process.
Constituency delimitation debacle
Ahead of the election, EC redrew the boundaries of 46 parliamentary constituencies. This involved reducing one seat from Bagerhat district and increasing one in Gazipur. Elsewhere, police stations or unions were carved out and attached to other constituencies.
The move triggered strong reactions in the affected areas.
In Bhanga, Faridpur, protesters blocking the Dhaka-Barishal and Dhaka-Khulna highways clashed with police. Police stations and election offices were vandalised. To bring the situation under control, Faridpur district administrator sent a letter to the EC requesting reconsideration.
In Bagerhat, continuous strikes and blockades disrupted operations at the Mongla Port and brought public life to a standstill. Highway blockades popped up in several other districts, including Brahmanbaria.
Despite intense pressure, the commission remained firm on its decision. The EC claimed that, according to the constitution, the delimitation of parliamentary constituency boundaries cannot be challenged in court.
But more than 30 writ petitions were filed from various areas, including Faridpur and Bagerhat.
Ultimately, the High Court declared illegal the gazette reducing Bagerhat’s seats from four to three and increasing Gazipur’s from five to six. EC had filed an appeal, but the Supreme Court upheld High Court verdict.
Just before the election schedule announcement on 11 December, the commission published a revised gazette in compliance with the court order. In essence, regardless of having legal authority, the EC’s decision on boundary delimitation did not withstand judicial scrutiny.
Following the court’s verdict, EC senior secretary said the ruling on boundaries calls into question the EC’s powers.
According to statements from multiple EC officials, never had the commission faced such a significant legal challenge over boundary delimitation. This has been considered a major setback for them.
Key reforms to RPO, Code of Conduct
The Nasir Uddin Commission introduced several major reforms to the Representation of the People Order (RPO) and the Code of Conduct for political parties and candidates.
Reforms to the RPO include the reinstatement of the “No” vote option in uncontested seats, making it mandatory for alliance partners to contest under their own party symbol, the inclusion of armed forces in the definition of law enforcement agencies.
They further include increasing the security deposit to Tk 50,000, provisions for cancelling votes in an entire constituency due to irregularities, declaring the misuse of AI as an electoral offence, tough action even after election for false information in affidavits, and revoking the voting rights of court-declared fugitive offenders.
On the other hand, the Code of Conduct prohibited posters in election campaigns. But for the first time, provisions have been made allowing the use of billboards, relaxing previous restrictions on the use of T-shirts and jackets and adding rules for campaigning on social media.
These reforms have caused discord among political parties. Multiple parties have alleged that the EC made changes to laws and regulations without adequate discussion with key stakeholders.
Particularly strong objections were raised over the rule making it mandatory for alliance partners to contest under their own symbol. Several parties, including the BNP, sent letters to the EC demanding the cancellation or amendment of this rule.
However, a few other parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami and NCP, took a position in favour of these reforms and wrote to the EC demanding the rules be retained. The EC has not changed its stance on this matter.
Similarly, the ban on posters in the Code of Conduct also created divided reactions in the political arena.
3 voter list updates in a year
For the first time, the EC published three updates to the voter list in a single year. The first voter list for the year was published on 2 March, the second on 31 August, and the final list on 18 November.
The Electoral Rolls Act, 2009 has been amended to allow EC to determine voter eligibility date and timeframe for making corrections as needed.
Additionally, the Nasir Uddin commission removed the names of approximately 21 lakh deceased voters and newly included 82,799 individuals. According to the latest voter list, the number of voters in the country is approximately 12.77 crore.
The EC states that nearly one-third of all voters are youth. There is no precedent in the country for removing such many deceased voters from the list. On the issue of deceased voters, the CEC stated multiple times in the media that they have voted from their graves in previous polls.
3 EC officials get returning officer responsibilities
The returning officer is the most important field-level position in an election. They oversee the entire voting process, including nomination paper scrutiny, validity checks, and symbol allocation.
The trend has been to assign this responsibility to deputy commissioners in every national election. However, citing allegations of bias against them, many political parties have long demanded that the EC’s own officials handle returning officer duties.
This time too, various political parties, including the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, made the same demand. The Electoral Reform Commission also recommended prioritising EC officials.
Additionally, EC officials themselves had been making this demand. In this context, alongside 64 deputy commissioners (DCs) and two divisional commissioners, three Election Commission officials have been appointed as returning officers for the first time in history.
This time, a total of 69 Returning Officers will perform duties in 300 constituencies. In previous parliamentary elections, there were 66 Returning Officers.
Observer appointments cancelled
As part of reforms to the election observation system, EC cancelled 2023 guidelines and revoked the registration of the previous 96 observer organisations.
According to the new guidelines, having an HSC or equivalent educational qualification is mandatory to be an observer. Based on the new guidelines, 81 entities have now been registered for a period of five years.
Expatriates, election duty officials, and prison inmates to vote
Expatriate Bangladeshis and officials on election duty will be able to vote by postal ballot for the first time.
To this end, EC has undertaken a project costing around Tk 50 crore. Expatriates, government officers and employees, and officials on election duty are registering to vote using the Postal Vote BD App created under this project.
Over 10 lakh expatriates and Bangladeshis have already registered, and the remaining ones will have time to apply for registration until 5 January. Meanwhile, after the schedule announcement, the EC sent a link to the prison authorities for voting by inmates.
Excel sheets will be used to collect information from inmates interested in voting. Within fifteen days of the schedule announcement, prison authorities will prepare and send a list to the EC with the inmates’ names, National ID (NID), and voter numbers.
EC will verify, screen information, and send the final list back to the prisons. Using this list, ballot papers will be sent to prisons via the postal department 7 to 10 days before the election.
Booths will be set up at designated places within prisons to collect votes via postal ballot. After voting concludes, the ballots will be sent back to the Returning Officer’s office via the postal department. The votes of inmates will be added to the main results.
Questions raised over EC expenditure
The current commission has undertaken a project titled “Development and Implementation of Voting System Abroad to Ensure Voting Rights of Expatriate Voters” at a cost of Tk 49.43 crore.
Questions arose about the project’s expenditure.
EC sources say under the project, Tk 15.67 crore has been allocated for 30 consultants, which is 31.72 per cent of the total expenditure. This substantial expenditure will be incurred for consultants over 23 months.
Abnormal expenditures have been identified in several other areas – Tk 2.41 crore has been allocated for the 23-month salaries of 5 backend and 2 frontend developers for website creation.
Three consultants for app development will receive Tk 94.30 lakh. Hospitality expenses have been set at Tk 16.43 lakh, training at Tk 1.35 crore, and data storage at Tk 4.21 crore. Officials from the EC’s ICT wing claimed spending so much money on creating one app and website is abnormal.
Flurry of EC foreign trips
In the name of expatriate voter registration, the EC and its officials have undertaken successive foreign trips throughout this year. Visits have been made to different countries, including the UK, Canada, Japan, Australia, China, Thailand, the Maldives, and South Africa.
Officials from the IDEA project went on the most trips. Additionally, the EC’s ICT Wing, NID Registration Wing, and administrative teams have been sent. Election commissioners have also travelled abroad under the guise of inauguration ceremonies.
Several officials, including National Identity Registration Wing Director General ASM Humayun Kabir; EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed; Additional Secretary KM Ali Newaz; and IDEA Project Director Brig Gen Mohammad Azizur Rahman Siddiqui, have travelled abroad multiple times.
The result of these expensive trips is that only 30,000 expatriate voters have registered.
EC spending Tk 33 lakh per month on EVMs despite cancellation
The AMM Nasir Uddin Commission will not use the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) purchased by the KM Nurul Huda Commission at a cost of Tk 3,825 crore. They have cancelled the use of this technology by amending the law.
Despite cancelling EVMs, the current commission is spending Tk 33 lakh per month on the machines for warehouse rent. As no final decision has been made on the future management of these machines, crores of taka are being wasted from state treasury.
EC did not invite JaPa, several 14-party allies to dialogue
EC began a series of dialogues with political parties on 13 November. Forty-nine political parties were invited to the dialogue in four phases. Among them, the Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) and Trinamool BNP did not participate.
EC however did not invite the Jatiya Party (JaPa) and several allies of the 14-Party Alliance – Jatiya Party (JP), Bangladesh Sammobadi Dal (ML), Workers Party of Bangladesh, Gonotantri Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), and Bangladesh Tarikat Federation.
Although the commission initially stated it would invite all political parties to the dialogue, it changed its decision and did not invite several parties. EC has stated that not being invited to the dialogue does not bar these parties from participating in the polls.
The commission said all registered parties can participate in the election. However, as there is currently a leadership crisis within the Jatiya Party (JaPa), the debate over which faction can participate in the polls is not yet over.
Challenging law and order situation
A day after the schedule announcement, Dhaka-8 constituency’s prospective independent candidate, Sharif Osman bin Hadi, was shot in Dhaka in broad daylight. He died on 18 December while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Singapore.
After this announcement, several EC offices became victims of arson and vandalism. These incidents have increased concerns about insecurity among candidates and those involved. Some have even sought security from the EC.
In this context, the EC has written to the police requesting security for the chief election commissioner, the four commissioners, and the EC secretary.
Additionally, letters have been sent to the police to strengthen security for all returning officers’ offices, all EC offices, and to provide gunmen for members of the Electoral Inquiry Committee.
After the schedule announcement, the commission held meetings with law enforcement agencies in two phases. The chief election commissioner also met with the army, navy, and air force regarding security management during the election period.
Overall, while preparations for holding the polls according to the schedule are progressing, violent incidents and the security situation have become a major challenge for the Election Commission.
Election and referendum on same day
Having completed all preparations for the 13th parliamentary election and the referendum, the commission announced the voting date.
As the two votes are being held simultaneously, the EC did not have to undertake any additional preparation apart from printing extra ballot papers, increasing voting time by one hour, and planning to increase the number of secret booths.
According to the election schedule, nomination papers will be scrutinised from 30 December to 4 January 2026. Appeals against the returning officer’s decision can be filed from 5 to 9 January. Appeals will be disposed of from 10 to 18 January.
The last date for withdrawal of candidature is 20 January. Returning officers will publish the final candidate list and allocate symbols on 21 January. Election campaigning will begin on 22 January.
Campaigning can continue until 7:30am on 10 February. Voting will take place from 7:30am to 4:30pm on 12 February.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, a retired secretary, assumed office on 21 November 2024.
Four other commissioners joined this commission under his leadership – former additional secretary Md Anwarul Islam Sarker, retired district and sessions judge Abdur Rahmanel Masud, former joint secretary Tahmida Ahmed, and Brig Gen (retd) Abul Fazal Mohammad Sanaullah.
