The proposed 2026-27 budget allocates 4,400 crore taka to the Election Commission (EC) secretariat, most of which is expected to be spent on local-government elections. Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury proposed a 9,38,000 crore taka national budget for 2026-27 in parliament on Thursday, including the EC secretariat allocation among others.
Ahead of the local-government elections, the EC had earlier sought 5,500 crore taka from the government, but the budget gives a primary allocation of 4,400 crore taka — 3,643 crore for operating expenditure and 757 crore for development — leaving a shortfall of 1,100 crore taka against the EC’s request. In the outgoing 2025-26 budget, the EC secretariat was initially allocated 2,956 crore taka, which stood at 4,346 crore in the revised budget; this time the primary allocation for the constitutional body has risen by 1,445 crore taka — a 48.88 percent increase over last year’s primary allocation.
On the government’s instruction, the EC is expected to begin the first phase of local-government elections with union parishad voting in October. Among the five local-government bodies, 4,581 union parishads, 61 zila parishads, 495 upazila parishads, 330 municipalities and 13 city corporations currently have posts due for election. The proposed allocation has been raised to meet the heavy cost of holding these elections through the coming year. In the outgoing fiscal year, of the 3,150 crore taka allocated for the 13th Jatiya Sangsad election and referendum, 2,256 crore was spent; EC officials said the commission would return 894 crore taka to the state treasury at the year’s end. EC senior secretary Akhtar Ahmed, in an immediate reaction, told journalists the coming year’s allocation is naturally tied to local-government elections and that the commission would make the best use of the allocated funds.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report