STAFF CORRESPONDENT

The Election Commission has finalised the Code of Conduct 2025 for political parties and candidates ahead of the 13th National Parliamentary Election, scheduled to be held before Ramadan in February next year.

The code was approved at the EC’s ninth commission meeting, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, and held from 11:00am to 7:00pm yesterday at the EC headquarters in Dhaka.

Speaking to reporters in the evening, Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah said, “The draft of the code of conduct for candidates and political parties, on which we had sought opinions online, has been finalised today based on that feedback.”

He also confirmed that the election schedule will be announced in the first half of December.

The EC further announced plans to introduce postal voting for Bangladeshi expatriates, who will receive ballots marked only with electoral symbols, not candidate names.

Voters abroad will cast their votes by selecting a symbol and returning the ballot via post. A three-week window will be provided for registration. Expatriates who register by October 31 will be included in the final voter list.

The EC plans to launch a voter education and sensitisation campaign for expatriates starting in September. Each expatriate vote via postal ballot may cost around Tk 500. The cost for every 100,000 votes could range between Tk 6 crore and Tk 7 crore, said

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