Tk 2,956 crore proposed for Election Commission

Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed has proposed the national budget allocating Tk2,956 crore for the Election Commission for fiscal year (FY) 2025-2026.

This financial year, Tk1,814 crore higher than the allocation in the revised budget in FY 2024-2025. 

Of the proposed Tk2,956 crore, Tk2,727 crore has been allocated as revenue budget, while Tk229 crore has been earmarked as the development budget.

The finance adviser came up with the proposed national budget for fiscal 2025-26 in a televised speech on Bangladesh Television (BTV) and Bangladesh Betar. 

In his speech, the adviser said, "One of the goals of the Interim Government is to establish people's voting rights through a free and fair election and to hand over power to a democratic government. In the last decade and a half, the country's electoral system has been completely tampered with."

"We, therefore, have given the highest priority to reform the electoral system and to this end have made amendments and reforms in various laws, policies and orders," the adviser said in his budget speech. 

"The voter list has already been updated by the Bangladesh Election Commission (EC) to hold the next parliamentary election in a fair manner, he said.

He added, as saying, "Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is being used to ensure transparency, impartiality and proper data analysis in the election system." 

Bangladesh unveiled a Tk790,000 crore national budget for the fiscal year 2025-26, beginning in July. The budget will be a lower borrowing target. 

The government initially allocated Tk2,406 crore for the 12th parliamentary election, held on January 7, 2024. The amount was later revised to Tk4,769 crore to cover the full costs.