Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus observed the voting situation across the country from the control room at Police Headquarters on Thursday (February 12).

During his visit, Home Affairs Adviser Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Baharul Alam were also present.

Voting for the 13th National Parliamentary Election and a nationwide referendum is underway across Bangladesh. Although polling officially began at 7:30 am, voters started gathering at centers from early morning. Voting will continue until 4:30 pm in 299 parliamentary constituencies.

A total of 42,779 polling centers have been set up nationwide, containing 247,482 voting booths. Fifty political parties are participating in this year’s election.

In total, 2,028 candidates are contesting the election. Among them, 1,755 are nominated by political parties, while 273 are independent candidates. There are 83 female candidates in total—63 representing political parties and 20 running independently.

Originally, elections were scheduled in 300 constituencies. However, voting in Sherpur-3 was canceled following the death of a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate. As a result, polling is taking place in 299 constituencies.

Approximately 127.7 million registered voters are eligible to cast their ballots. Of them, 64,825,361 are male voters, 62,885,200 are female voters, and 1,232 are registered as third gender voters.