Bangladesh elections: 2,034 candidates in race as electioneering ends Tuesday

ISLAMABAD: Electioneering by contesting candidates in Bangladesh’s 13th National Parliament (Jatiya Sangsad) Election and Referendum will conclude at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, exactly 48 hours before polling begins, the country's state media reported, quoting the Election Commission.

The campaign, which began on Jan. 22, will end in line with electoral rules requiring a mandatory two-day silence period ahead of voting, according to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS).

Election Commission Secretariat Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said all campaign activities must stop by 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 10 to ensure compliance with election laws.

The parliamentary election and referendum will be held on Thursday, with voting scheduled from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Balloting will take place through transparent ballot boxes across 299 constituencies nationwide.

The Election Commission has cancelled polling in the Sherpur-3 constituency following the death of a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate, reducing the number of constituencies going to the polls from 300 to 299.

According to EC officials, ballot papers have already been dispatched to returning officers in 49 districts, while the remaining consignments are expected to reach their destinations later today.

A total of 127.7 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the election and referendum. This includes 64.8 million male voters, 62.9 million female voters, and 1,220 voters from the hijra community.

Among the constituencies, Jhalakathi-1 has the fewest voters at 228,431, while Gazipur-2 has the most at 804,333.

Overall, 51 political parties are taking part in the election, with 2,034 candidates contesting, including 275 independents. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has fielded the largest number of candidates, with 291 contestants running under its paddy sheaf symbol.

Polling will be held at 42,779 centres, with 247,482 polling booths set up. Dhaka-12 has the most candidates, with 15 in the race, while Pirojpur-1 has the fewest, with just two candidates.

Around 800,000 election officials will be deployed to conduct the polls, while nearly 900,000 law enforcement personnel will be assigned to maintain security.

In addition, 55,454 observers from 81 locally registered organisations will monitor the election, including 7,997 central observers and 47,457 deployed at the constituency level. Around 500 foreign observers will also be present, Election Commissioner Brig Gen Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah (retd) said.