A total of 1,050 union parishads will go to the polls in the first phase of local government elections on 21 January 2027, Election Commission Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed has said.
He disclosed the information while speaking to journalists at the Election Commission Secretariat in Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar today (8 November).
Akhtar said union parishads under sadar upazilas would be prioritised in the first phase.
All union parishads in an upazila whose terms have expired will be included in the same phase of elections, he added.
Responding to a question, the EC secretary said electronic voting machines (EVMs) would not be used in any future elections. However, the commission has yet to decide what to do with the EVMs currently in its possession.
Asked about the schedules for other local government elections, including city corporation and upazila polls, Akhtar said the commission was currently focusing on union parishad elections. Details of the other polls would be announced in due course, he added.
He also said the commission was considering collecting information on citizens from the age of six to build a database and improve public services.
Under the proposed plan, information provided when children enrol in primary school would be collected and used for their registration in the National Identity Card (NID) database, he said.
On 12 October, the EC announced that union parishad elections would be held in five phases, beginning on 21 January. The subsequent phases are scheduled for 4 February, 29 April, 13 May and 27 May 2027.
Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Mohammad Sanaullah said in October that elections would be completed by 27 May 2027 in around 4,300 union parishads whose terms had expired or were due to expire during the election cycle.
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