Staff Reporter:
A total of 12,77,11,899 voters will cast their votes in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) elections and referendum scheduled to be held on February 12, according to Election Commission (EC) sources.
EC data showed that of the total voters, 6,48,25,154 are male and 6,28,85,525 female, while 1,220 belong to the third gender.
The EC recently cancelled the election in Sherpur-3 constituency following the death of a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate. As a result, voting will be held in 299 constituencies instead of 300.
Among the constituencies, the lowest number of voters is in Jhalakathi-1 with 228,431 voters, while Gazipur-2 has the highest with 804,333 voters.
Election Commission National Identity Registration Wing Director (Operations) and Central Coor-dination Committee Member Secretary Md Saiful Islam told that a total of 51 political parties are taking part in the election. The total number of candidates is 2,034, including 275 independent contestants.
EC sources said the BNP has fielded the highest number of candidates with 291 contestants con-testing under the Sheaf of Paddy symbol. Islami Andolon Bangladesh has fielded the second high-est 258 candidates under the Hatpakha (Hand Fan) symbol. Besides, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has fielded 229 candidates under the Daripalla (Scale) symbol, Jatiya Party 198 under the Plough symbol and Jatiya Nagorik Party (NCP) 32 under the Water Lily Bud symbol.
Among the independents, 76 candidates are contesting with the Football symbol.
Voting will take place simultaneously from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm through ballot papers using trans-parent ballot boxes in 299 parliamentary constituencies across the country.
