Shawdesh desk:

The electioneering for the January 7 general election that was boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and some other major parties began on Monday following the allocation of electoral symbols among candidates.

Candidates started campaigning in their respective constituencies soon after the allocation of symbols, with nominees of different political parties, who were aware of their symbols, hanging posters in different places.

Hours after getting the electoral symbol, Awami League candidate for Dhaka-14 and Juba League general secretary Mainul Hossain Khan started his election campaign from Shah Ali Mazar in Mirpur.

Mainul held a rally inside the main gate of the shrine around 6:30pm, raising allegations of electoral code violations.

According to the election code of conduct, no election campaign can be conducted in any place of worship.

New Age Munshiganj correspondent reported that Awami League-nominated candidate Mrinal Kanti Das’s supporters on Monday attacked the followers of independent candidate Faisal Biplab, which left six injured in Gazaria upazila in the district.

The injured are Mokles Khan (40), Mosharraf (43), Nizam Uddin (42), Mohiuddin Molla (40), Helal Sarkar (40), and Kawsar Khan (36). Five out of six injured were rushed to the Gazaria Upazila Health Complex for treatment.

Jamu Mia, a union parishad P member of Ward No. 9 of the Guagachia Union, said that AL-backed candidate Mrinal Kanti Das’s supporters attacked the supporters of independent candidate Haji Faisal Biplab around 3:30 pm.

He said that 40–50 people suddenly attacked them while they were discussing what to do in the new Charchashi Ghat area over the upcoming election.

Gazaria police station officer-in-charge, Md Rajib Khan, said that on information, the police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

The Election Commission on Monday issued a direction to returning officers to send ballot papers to all polling centres, except those in remote and hard-to-reach areas, on the morning of voting day.

‘Respective returning officers will have to make plans for delivering the ballot papers on the morning of polling day and get those approved by the Election Commission by December 31, 2023,’ said the EC in a circular.

According to the circular, the ROs should determine the timing of delivery of  ballot papers to polling centres located in hilly, haor, baor, char, or island areas or areas far from the district or upazila headquarters or metropolitan areas.

Talking to reporters at the EC office, chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said that, as far as possible, the ballots would reach polling centres on the morning of polling day, which he hoped would help increase the transparency of voting.

The EC has taken the initiative to send ballot papers to the polling centres on the morning of the voting day following allegations of ballot stuffing on the night before the voting day during the general election in 2018.

The CEC said that ballot boxes would be sent to polling centres 2 or 4 days ahead of polling day.

A total of 1,896 candidates are running for 300 Jatiya Sangsad seats in the January 7 polls.

Of them, 1,506 are nominees from 27 registered political parties, while the rest are independents, said the Election Commission.

The Election Commission on Monday asked the armed forces to deploy troops to assist the civil administration for 10 days, from December 29 to January 10.

The Election Commission sent a letter to the armed forces in this regard, said EC deputy secretary Atiar Rahman.

He said that the EC had taken all possible legal and administrative measures to conduct the election in a free, fair, impartial, and peaceful manner. All preparations have been made to maintain the law and order situation during the election.

He said that the EC decided to deploy the army to ensure peace and order before, during, and after the polling for the purpose of assisting the civil administration.

President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Sunday approved in principle the deployment of the army during the election.

The decision came from a meeting between the president and chief election commissioner, Kazi Habibul Awal, at Bangabhaban in Dhaka.

During the 2018 general election, a total of 414 army platoons, each comprising 30 personnel, were deployed across 389 upazilas. Additionally, 48 navy platoons were deployed in 18 coastal upazilas during the polls.

On November 15, chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal announced the polls schedule fixing the polling date as January 7.