Voting has begun in Bangladesh for the crucial general elections, the first since a massive student-led nationwide protest led to the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.
The voting started in 299 out of the total 300 parliamentary constituencies across the country from 7:30 am (local time). It has been cancelled in one constituency has been cancelled due to the death of a candidate.
A total of 1,755 candidates from 50 political parties and 273 independents are contesting the election. There are 83 female candidates.
The Election Commission has made elaborate security arrangements, deploying nearly 1 million security personnel -- the largest-ever in the country's electoral history.
Voting will conclude around 4:30 pm, following which counting of votes will begin.
The contest is mainly between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its once ally Jamaat-e-Islami as Hasina's Awami League was disbanded by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus-led interim government last year. The BNP has fielded the highest number of 291 candidates.
The 13th parliamentary elections are being held simultaneously along with a referendum on a complex 84-point reform package. The political reforms include prime ministerial term limits, stronger checks on executive power and other safeguards preventing parliamentary power consolidation.
Yunus, who has promised to quickly transfer power to the elected government, has urged the political parties, candidates and other concerned parties to maintain restraint, tolerance and democratic behaviour on the polling day.
In a televised address to the nation on the eve of the polling, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin called upon the voters to cast their votes freely.
He urged political parties, candidates, and voters to maintain a peaceful and cordial environment.
He said that representatives from 45 countries and organisations, including election management bodies and international institutions, are observing the polls.
Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Machud said nearly 9,00,000 law enforcement personnel have been deployed to ensure security during the election, state-run BSS news agency reported.
Authorities have deployed Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and Rapid Action Teams (RATs) across key areas of the capital.
Police said they have provided a list of risk-prone polling centres to the EC, which showed that out of 2,131 polling centres in Dhaka, 1,614 were risk-prone.
However, the army said they have identified two centres in Dhaka city to be "risky."
For the first time, drones and body-worn cameras are being used for election security.
EC data showed that first-time voters made up some 3.58 per cent of the nearly 127 million voters.
For the first time, nearly 8,00,000 expatriate Bangladeshis, who have registered with the poll body, will be able to vote through an IT-based postal ballot system.
The election could reshape the domestic stability of Bangladesh, a country whose post-1971 history since gaining independence from Pakistan has been marked by entrenched political parties, military coups and allegations of vote rigging. Young voters, many of whom played a central role in the 2024 uprising, are expected to be influential. Some 5 million first-time voters are eligible.
(With inputs from PTI, AP)
