Bangladesh to vote for 12th parliament election on Sunday

Bangladesh, a nation of nearly 180 million people will vote on January 7th to elect 300 lawmakers during the 12th national election. This time 1,970 candidates are in the race which includes 90 women and 79 candidates from religious and ethnic minorities. Apart from 28 political parties, there are a record 747 independent candidates in the poll race; the majority of them are from the ruling Awami League alone.

The ruling party,  Awami League is contesting 266 seats to seek its fourth term while the remaining seats it left for its alliance partners. Sheikh Hasina led the Awami League and has been in power since 2009. 

The main opposition party in Parliament, the Jatiya Party (JP) nominated 265 candidates to run in the electoral race. However, around 26 JP candidates have withdrawn so far. Amid election fever, unidentified miscreants set a Dhaka-bound Benapole Express train on fire in Dhaka on Friday night which took the lives of four passengers on board. However, multiple incidents of fire and violence were reported throughout Bangladesh as the election campaign ended on Friday morning, according to media reports.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party called a countrywide hartal from Saturday morning to Monday morning as part of their movement to boycott the national elections. The major opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies are boycotting the upcoming polls, alleging a free and fair



election is not possible under the current government.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has banned the movement of taxi cabs, pickups, microbuses, trucks, and other vehicles surrounding Sunday's 12th national polls, in the DMP area from Saturday midnight to Sunday midnight.  Meanwhile, Leaders of religious minority communities on Thursday demanded effective security measures for minorities during the pre-and post-polling periods of the national election. According to Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad claim, many of them are passing days amid insecurity surrounding the national election.

Armed forces will remain deployed across Bangladesh till January 10th to ensure peace and order before, during, and after the election day.  The official media release said that the armed forces are being deployed to assist the local civil administration in holding a free, fair, and peaceful election in Bangladesh. Apart from the armed forces, members of the Coast Guard, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), armed police and Ansar will also be on election duty.

The national parliament of Bangladesh- called Jatiyo Sangshad- has 350 members of which 300 members are directly elected through voting. They serve for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies. The remaining 50 memberships are reserved for the women who are nominated by the government.