Bangladesh Election Results 2026 LIVE: The elections, held amid massive security with nearly 1 million personnel, the largest deployment ever, featured innovations like drones, body cameras and IT-based postal voting for 8,00,000 expatriates in Bangladesh.
The vote counting will begin shortly in Bangladesh after the polling ends in 299 constituencies on Thursday (February 12). Bangladesh’s parliamentary elections witnessed a solid 32.88 per cent voter turnout by noon across 32,789 of 42,651 polling centers, as reported by Election Commission Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed. Voting proceeded without any suspensions, despite isolated violence like a hand bomb attack in Gopalganj injuring three (including a 13-year-old girl and two Ansar members), crude bomb blasts in Munshiganj disrupting one center for 15 minutes, and a fatal altercation in Khulna killing BNP leader Mohibuzzaman Kochi. Early queues formed from 6:00 am, with top figures like interim Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman and Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman casting ballots in Dhaka. One constituency’s voting was canceled due to a candidate’s death, but polls continued until 4:30 pm in 299 of 300 seats.
The elections, held amid massive security with nearly 1 million personnel, the largest deployment ever, featured innovations like drones, body cameras and IT-based postal voting for 8,00,000 expatriates. With 127 million eligible voters (half aged 18-37, including 4.57 million first-timers), 1,755-1,981 candidates from 50-59 parties (BNP fielding the most at 291) contested, excluding the banned Awami League. Key rivals BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami dominated, focusing on corruption, inflation, jobs, and growth. A simultaneous referendum on the 84-point National Charter 2025, drafted by Yunus’s interim government, tested reforms. Overnight clashes, arrests for ballot tampering in Joypurhat and Sylhet, and pre-vote bombs in Gopalganj marred the lead-up, but officials urged calm.
Muhammad Yunus hailed the day as the ‘birthday of the new Bangladesh,’ renouncing the ‘nightmarish past’ post-Sheikh Hasina’s ouster and Khaleda Zia’s death, while Rahman called for festive, choice-based voting under the BNP’s paddy sheaf symbol. International observers from 45 countries monitored, with Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin pushing for peace. Final turnout, results, and vote counts will shape the power transfer Yunus promised, marking a pivotal shift in Bangladesh’s politics.