12th national parliament election: Voting begins

Voting in Bangladesh’s 12th general election began across the country on Sunday morning (January 7).

The balloting began at 8am and will continue until 4pm without any break.

According to EC officials, 11,96,89,289 voters, including 6,76,09,741 male, 5,89,18,699 female and 849 transgender, will vote to elect 299 members of parliament out of 300 as the EC earlier postponed the elections to Naogaon-2 due to independent candidate Aminul Islam's death.

A total of 1,970 candidates, including 1,534 from 28 political parties and 436 independents, are vying in the polls.
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 contesting in the polls.

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

A required number of members of law enforcement agencies have been deployed across the country to ensure the security of the voters so that they can go to polling centres, exercise franchise and return home safely.

About 8 lakh members of law enforcement agencies, including 182,091 from police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), 1,155 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members, 505,788 Ansar and VDP members and Coast Guard personnel, have been tasked with ensuring overall security during the election across the country.

Inputs taken from BSS