Online Desk:
According to the revised decision of the Election Commission (EC), voters, candidates and their agents, journalists and election observers will be able to enter polling stations with mobile phones. However, mobile phones will be completely banned in the secret rooms and ballot stamping rooms.
Akhtar Ahmed, Senior Secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat, gave this information at a press briefing organized at the Election Commission Bhaban in Agargaon in the capital on Monday (February 9, 2026) evening.
In the briefing, he said that there was confusion among journalists and those concerned about the previous decision. That is why the commission has decided to reconsider the matter and issue a revised circular. According to the new decision, voters, candidates and their agents will be able to enter the polling stations with mobile phones. Journalists and election observers will also be able to take photographs, but no one will be able to enter the secret rooms or the places where ballot stamping takes place with mobile phones.
Akhtar Ahmed further said, “The circular is being amended in this way so that there is no more doubt or confusion in this regard.”
However, he said that the ban on carrying mobile phones will remain in force in some cases. The senior secretary said that polling agents, polling officers, assistant presiding officers and members of law enforcement agencies will not be able to enter the polling station with mobile phones. They will be under this ban as per the existing laws and rules.
He further said that the demand to reconsider the previous decision of the commission on not allowing journalists and election observers to carry mobile phones while entering the polling station has been raised several times from different quarters. After discussing the matter, the Election Commission has decided to cancel that specific part of the circular.
