Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed today proposed the national budget allocating Taka Tk 2,956 crore for the Election Commission for fiscal year (FY) 2025-2026, which is Taka 1,814 crore higher than the allocation in the revised budget in FY 2024-2025.
Of the proposed Taka 2,956 crore, Taka 2,727 crore has been allocated as revenue budget, while Tk 229 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.
The adviser, in his speech, 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, adding, “Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is being used to ensure transparency, impartiality and proper data analysis in the election system.”
Bangladesh today unveiled a Tk 790,000 crore national budget for the fiscal year 2025-26, beginning in July, with a lower borrowing target.
For the 12th parliamentary election, held on January 7, 2024, the government initially allocated Tk2,406 crore, which was later revised to Tk4,769 crore to cover the full costs.
Election budgets typically include not just polling expenses but also the deployment of law enforcement to maintain order.
