Nation goes to 12th national elections Sunday

The Election Commission has taken all-out preparations to hold the 12th national elections in a free, fair, and peaceful way on Sunday.

In order to select 299 out of 300 members of parliament, 11,96,89,289 voters—6,76,09,741 men, 5,89,18,699 women, and 849 transgender individuals— will cast ballots.

There will be uninterrupted voting from 8 am to 4 pm at 42,024 polling centres around the country.

There are 1,970 candidates in the polls, including 436 independents and 1,534 members of 28 political parties.

Of the candidates, 266 from the ruling Awami League (AL), 265 from Jatiya Party (JaPa), 135 from Trinomul BNP, 66 from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASAD), 122 from National People's Party (NPP), 13 from Jatiya Party (JP) and 10 from Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh are vying in the polls.

A total of 90 female candidates, including from political parties and independents, and 79 from ethnic minority and other groups are contesting in the polls. 

The task of ensuring general security across the country during the elections has been assigned to about 8 lakh law enforcement personnel, including 182,091 police officers and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members, 1,155 Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) platoons, 505,788 Ansar and VDP members, and Coast Guard personnel.

Beginning on Wednesday, military soldiers were deployed across the country to assist local civil authorities in holding a free, fair, and peaceful general election.

Army personnel are working in 62 districts, while Navy forces are stationed in 19 upazilas and two coastal districts, Bhola and Barguna "In Aid to the Civil Power".

Helicopters are also being used by the Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) to assist polling locations in the remote highland areas of the country.

To ensure peace and order before, during, and after election day, law enforcement and military troops will remain stationed until January 10.

In addition, BGB Dog Squads that have received specific training in managing dangerous materials are stationed across the country to handle any violent situations.

A single monitoring and coordinating cell has also been formed by the country's Fire Service and Civil Defense to handle any situation, including violent occurrences and fires, during the JS elections.

Not only will eight lakh poll workers continue to conduct polling activities, but an extra one lakh will be on standby. 

During the elections, 3,000 executive and judicial magistrates would do their duties in various fields across the country.

Sixty-six returning officers (ROs), including two divisional commissioners and sixty-four deputy commissioners (DCs), are collaborating to conduct the polls. 

The EC's Additional Secretary, Ashok Kumar Debnath, announced that 20,773 monitors, including 2,000 foreign observers, are monitoring the polls. Election observers included members of the media as well.

The EC has released an app called "Smart Election Management BD" that provides the latest polling data every two hours. 

The government has put in place a 24-hour ban on using trucks, pickup vans, taxis, and microbuses starting at midnight on Saturday in preparation for Sunday's elections. 

Additionally, from Friday at midnight until Monday at midnight, motorcyclists are not allowed to move for 72 hours. Motorcycles that have an EC pass, however, will still be free from this restriction.

/MHK/