A significant contest will take place in Dhaka-8 where BNP’s strongman Mirza Abbas is being challenged by National Citizen Party’s Nasiruddin Patowary.

Leading prime ministerial hopeful Tarique Rahman, 60, is confident his Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) can regain power, but he faces a stiff challenge from the Muslim-majority country’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami.

A total of 1,755 candidates from 50 political parties and 273 independents are contesting the election. The BNP has fielded the highest number of 291 candidates. There are 83 female candidates.

Dhaka-8 is the seat where young Islamist Sharif Osman Hadi was planning to contest before he was shot and killed in December. Mr. Patowary’s challenge is significant as he is being supported by the 11-party alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami. 

Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman, 67, has mounted a disciplined grassroots campaign, and, if victorious, the former political prisoner could lead the first Islamist-led government in constitutionally secular Bangladesh.

Bangladesh’s previous election was in January 2024 when the chief opposition BNP boycotted. Sheikh Hasina of Awami League formed government after the election but was overthrown in a public uprising in July-August 2024. 

Awami League of Sheikh Hasina is not contesting the polls as it remains banned but the party’s stronghold Gopalganj was rocked by violence overnight with at least ten cocktail explosives were hurled as multiple groups clashed. Both BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami have accused Awami League of rigging the previous three elections of Bangladesh in 2024, 2018 and in 2014. 

Voting began on Thursday morning in Bangladesh’s crucial general election — the first since the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in massive nationwide protests in August 2024.

The voting started in 299 out of 300 parliamentary constituencies across the country from 7:30 a.m. (local time) and will continue until 4:30 p.m. The counting of votes is expected to begin shortly after the voting concludes.

Voting in one constituency has been cancelled due to the death of a candidate. 

The Election Commission has made elaborate security arrangements, deploying nearly 1 million security personnel — the largest-ever in the country’s electoral history. 

PTI