The interim government has granted final approval in-principle to the draft Voters’ List (Amendment) Ordinance 2025, allowing those who turn 18 before the announcement of the election schedule to register as voters.
The approval was made at a council of advisers meeting with chief adviser Muhammad Yunus in the chair at his office in Dhaka on Thursday.
Under the current law, individuals who become eligible to vote after January 2 of a given year are excluded from participating in elections held during that year and even up to March of the following year.
Following the council of advisers meeting, the chief adviser’s press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, briefed reporters at the Foreign Service Academy.
The amendment addressed the gap by allowing all eligible voters who turn 18 before the election schedule is announced to exercise their voting rights.
Senior assistant press secretary Foyez Ahammad explained that the existing rule fixed January 1 as the cut-off date for voter eligibility, which has effectively excluded many young people.
He said that the amendment upheld the principle of universal suffrage by extending voting rights to those who reach the legal age prior to election announcements.
In addition to the electoral amendment, the advisers council approved drafts of two other ordinances, subject to legal vetting: the Human Organ Transplantation Ordinance 2025 and the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2025.
Highlighting the importance of the organ transplantation ordinance, Shafiqul Alam said that the ordinance expanded the range of permissible donors beyond immediate family members to include relatives such as nieces and nephews.
This change is expected to facilitate organ transplants within the country, he said.
The council also discussed the recent incident in Gopalganj, resulting in the formation of a three-member probe committee led by the senior secretary at the home ministry.
The committee, which includes additional secretaries from the law ministry and public administration ministry, has been given 14 days to submit its findings to the Chief Adviser’s Office.
