Election Commission Secretariat

Bangladesh Election Commission has its own secretariat as per Election Commission Secretariat Ain 2009, which is headed by a Secretary. The Secretariat is located in Dhaka and has a Electoral Training Institute, field offices at the Regional, District and Upazilla/Thana level. 

Secretariat

• The Election Commission has a full-fledged Secretariat under it to render all assistance to execute the decisions and orders of the Commission.
• The Election Commission Secretariat is headed by a Secretary. Functions of the Election Commission Secretariat: Assistance to the Election Commission for
• (a) preparation of electoral rolls for use in all national and local bodies elections.
• (b) Delimitation of territorial constituencies for the purposes of election to Parliament.
• (c) Conduct of referendum and elections (including bye-election/re-election) to the office of President, Parliament, Paurashavas (Municipal Committees), City Corporations, Union Parishads (Union Councils) and Three Hill Districts Councils etc.
• (d) Reservation and allocation of symbols to political parties/candidates, when required;
• (e) Supervision of polling arrangements throughout the country on the eve of each election and appointment of polling personnel, namely : Returning Officers, Assistant Returning Officers, Presiding Officers, Assistant Presiding Officers and Polling Officers;
• (f) Printing and supply of ballot papers to all polling stations located all over the country;
• (g) Procurement of election materials including ingredients for the manufacture of indelible ink and their distribution amongst the polling stations;
• (h) Procurement, supply, storage and maintenance of ballot boxes throughout the country;
• (i) Setting up of elaborate machinery throughout the country for collection and dissemination of result of elections;
• (j) Consolidation of all election results and their formal publication in the official gazette, as required by law;
• (k) Constitution of Tribunal for the disposal of election petitions and performance of such other functions in this regard as may be prescribed by any other law;
• (l) Framing and publicity pertaining to the elections and their implementation;
• (m) Collection and compilation of election data for research, reference and records;
• (n) Preparation and publication of comprehensive reports of all types of elections;
• (o) Regulation and control of officers and staff of the Election Commission Secretariat and its field establishment;
• (p) All laws on subjects allocated to it.

Tenure of Secretaries

Field Offices

Regional Offices

• There are 10 Regional Election Offices located at 7 Divisional Headquarters and 3 other districts.
• Functions of the Divisional Offices are to maintain liaison between the Election Commission Secretariat and the subordinate field level offices and to co-ordinate the work relating to conduct of all types of elections and registration of voters and preparation of electoral rolls including day to day amendment and correction in the list of electoral rolls and other matters as and when entrusted by the Election Commission.

District

• There are 64 Senior/District Election Offices in the 64 District Headquarters headed by Senior/District Election Officer.

Functions:

• The District Election Officers carry out all work relating to registration of voters, printing of voters list, management of national and local level elections, training of polling personnel and all logistical arrangements for elections.
• As an officer of the Election Commission, the District Election Officer renders all possible assistance to the Returning Officer and polling personnel with forms, packets, manuals, instructions and supply of ballot boxes, electoral rolls, ballot papers and maintains all accounts for expenses incurred for different elections.

Upazill/Thana setup

• At the lowest tier of the field organization, there are Upazilla/Thana Election Officers in all Upazilla/Thanas.
• The main functions of the Upazilla/Thana Election Officer are to assist divisional/district offices in the discharge of functions relating to elections.