Mohiuddin Alamgir

As the nation goes to polls today for a third straight time under Sheikh Hasina-led government, the outcome is already a foregone conclusion. The 12th parliamentary election will go down in history as a race between Awami League candidates and Awami League “independents”.

The main challenge for the Election Commission will be to hold a peaceful, acceptable election with high voter turnout as campaigning ended with violations of the electoral code of conduct, violence and little festivity.

The Election Commission will send ballot papers to around 93 percent of the 42,025 polling centres on election day morning.

The Election Commission approved a total of 127 international observers to monitor the 12th national polls slated for January 7.

Violation of the electoral code of conduct has more than doubled in the last eight days compared to the previous 34 days, shows Election Commission data.

Although there are laws in place to limit the expenditure of political parties in electioneering ahead of polls, the Election Commission lacks a mechanism to monitor such spending, according to some EC officials.

The electoral law permits the ruling Awami League and opposition Jatiya Party to spend up to Tk 4.5 crore each as campaign expenditure for the January 7 polls

The Election Commission has approved 20,773 local observers from 84 organisations to monitor the January 7 national elections.

At least 102 of the electoral rules violators are ruling Awami League candidates, shows data from the Election Commission.

Members of BGB, coast guard and Rab will remain deployed for 13 days from December 29 to assist the civil administration during the parliamentary polls, the home ministry said yesterday.

A total of 382 independents are contesting 221 seats in the January 7 parliamentary polls, meaning more independents are running this time than in the last three national elections.

The Election Commission has decided to send ballot papers to all polling centres, except for those in remote and hard-to-reach areas, on the morning of the election day in efforts to increase transparency.

The Election Commission yesterday asked the government to take measures so that no political programmes other than for electioneering take place from December 18.

At least 30 aspirants appealed with the Election Commission challenging the returning officers’ decision accepting the nomination bid of their opponents.

Around 350 people lost their bid to run for parliament as independents because they failed to prove that they had the support of at least one percent of the voters in their constituencies.

Election code violations are rampant ahead of the January 7 election, but the Election Commission has yet to take any punitive action against the rule breakers.

Candidatures of at least 731 aspirants out of 2,716 have been cancelled by returning officers across the country.

Nomination papers rejected mainly for three reasons, says EC joint secretary

The number of aspirants from minority communities for the upcoming national election is higher compared to the previous polls.

A large number of field-level administration officials are dissatisfied with the Election Commission’s instructions for the transfer of all upazila nirbahi officers and officers-in-charge of police stations ahead of the national election, several officials said.