The Election Commission (EC) has made major amendments to the results of the referendum held to implement the 'July National Charter', a constitutional reform following the 2024 student uprising. According to the new amendments, the number of both 'yes' and 'no' votes has decreased compared to the previously announced results.

The amended information was announced on Thursday (February 26) through an additional gazette signed by Akhtar Ahmed, Senior Secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat.

The EC notification mentioned that the referendum was held on February 12 to verify the consent of the people on the 'July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order, 2025' and the proposal to reform the constitution in order to exercise the sovereign power of the people revealed through the successful mass uprising of the students and the public in July-August 2024. The results of that vote were published in the Gazette on February 13.

The gazette stated that according to the first gazette, the number of 'yes' votes was 48.2 million 660, while the number of 'no' votes was 22.71 million 726. The total number of votes cast, including yes and no votes, was 77.6 million 95 thousand 23. Of these, 74.22 million 637 were invalidated. Excluding invalidated votes, the total number of valid voters stood at 72.72 million 386.

According to the revised gazette, the number of 'yes' votes in the referendum will be 47.225 million, 980 people, and the number of 'no' votes will be 21.960 million, 231 people. The total number of votes cast, including yes and no votes, stands at 76.621 million, 407 people. Of these, 74.35196 were canceled. The total number of valid voters, excluding canceled votes, stands at 69.186 million, 211 people.

An analysis of the revised results shows that there are 974,680 fewer 'yes' votes than before. On the other hand, the number of 'no' votes has decreased by 111,495. However, the interesting thing is that even though the number of valid votes has decreased, the number of invalid votes has increased by 12,559 compared to before. Overall, the total number of votes cast has decreased by 1,073,616.

The Election Commission did not mention the specific reason for this amendment, but said that the amendment gazette was published on the commission's order.

It is worth noting that this referendum is supposed to finalize the constitutional validity and popular approval of the July National Charter.