Voting Begins Amid Boycott-Hartal

Voting in Bangladesh’s 12th general election began across the country Sunday (January 7) morning amid the desperation of the ruling Awami League to ensure voters’ presence and calls from the opposition political parties to boycott voting.

The voting began at 8:00am on Sunday and will continue until 4:00pm without any break.

Reports received from different corners of the country said that the voting began amid fear, voter intimidation, and violence, with the opposition parties, including the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, observing a 48-hour nationwide hartal that will end at 6:00am on Monday.

The Election Commission had earlier completed all preparations to hold the parliamentary elections today.

Chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal, addressing the nation on television on Saturday, had urged the people of the country to exercise their voting rights without fear.

A total of 28 registered political parties are in the election race while 16 other registered ones, including the main opposition BNP, are boycotting the election demanding the general election to be held under an election-time neutral government after resignation of the AL government.

The Awami League government removed the provision for a caretaker government from the constitution in 2011 based on a partial reading of a Supreme Court ruling.

The two elections held since then have been contentious.

The last two JS polls—2014 and 2018—held under the partisan system earned huge criticism at home and abroad.

In 2014, the opposition, led by the BNP, boycotted the elections, allowing the Awami League to return to power virtually unopposed. The boycott was so widespread that the Awami League faced no rival candidates—not even independent ones—in more than half of the parliamentary seats.

In 2018, the opposition did take part in the vote, but the ruling party and its allied partners secured more than 95 per cent of the seats amid reports of extensive fraud and intimidation.

BNP and many other registered and unregistered political parties held large-scale street programmes, often with massive gatherings, demanding the restoration of the caretaker government system.

Police, along with ruling party activists, quashed BNP’s Dhaka grand rally on October 28 before launching a massive crackdown on the opposition that led to the arrest of around 25,000 leaders and activists, including senior figures such as secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and standing committee members Mirza Abbas and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury.

Since October 28, at least 39 people, mostly BNP leaders, have been killed in political violence and in prison.

Police reported 375 incidents of electoral violence since the start of electioneering on November 18, which left 400 injured.

Miscreants set over a dozen polling stations ablaze across the country between midnight on Thursday and Saturday evening.

There are over 11.93 crore voters currently.

Voting will take place in 299 constituencies on Sunday, while the EC suspended polling at the Naogaon-2 seat after the death of independent candidate Aminul Haque on December 29.

According to the EC, a total of 1,969 candidates, including 436 independent candidates, are vying for the JS this time.

A total of 28 parties, among the 44 registered political parties, fielded candidates in the election.

The ruling AL is contesting in 266 seats, while the Jatiya Party is contesting at 265 seats.

At least 18 Jatiya Party candidates, however, quit the polls after the end of the official deadline, saying that there was no environment for polling at the moment.

At least 269 AL leaders are also contesting as either independent or dummy candidates. AL allowed party leaders to contest as independent or dummy candidates to avoid any of its official candidates being elected unopposed.

AL either withdrew or did not field candidates in 26 seats in favour of the Jatiya Party while sharing its electoral symbol boat with six candidates from its alliance partners.

Of them, Hasanul Haque Inu-led Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal got three seats, the Workers Party of Bangladesh got two seats, and the Jatiya Party-JP got one seat.

Some political parties labelled the King’s Party are contesting the polls with the blessing of the Awami League.

The BNP and other major parties are boycotting the polls, which stems from the government’s refusal to dissolve parliament and establish a poll-time caretaker administration to oversee the elections.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, called the election environment in Bangladesh ‘repressive’ and said that he was ‘deeply disturbed’.

While picketing in support of their party’s 48-hour hartal that began at 6:00am on Saturday to protest against Sunday’s ‘dummy’ election, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi urged the people of the country to boycott the polls.

Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader, on the other hand, called upon the people on Saturday to go to polling centres without any fear, avoiding BNP’s ‘rumour and propaganda’.

The Election Commission sent election materials, including ballot boxes and other materials to polling stations on Saturday.

The ballot papers were sent to most of the polling centres in the early morning on Sunday.

According to the EC, nearly 7,50,000 police, paramilitary, and police auxiliaries are on duty on the polling day. Polling are being held at 42,024 polling stations.

As many as 128 foreign observers are tracking the election process to assess its fairness, while 59 journalists from abroad have been accredited.

A home ministry official confirmed to press that journalists at some leading international newspapers and media houses were denied accreditation.