Shawdesh desk:

Bangladesh heads to the 12th parliamentary election tomorrow amid fear and festivity following the boycott by the main opposition BNP and its allies.

A total of 1,970 candidates, including 1,534 from 28 political parties and 436 independents, are there in the race in 299 constituencies. Sixteen political parties, including the BNP, have boycotted the election.

The Election Commission (EC) has postponed polls in Naogaon-2 constituency due to the death of a candidate.

The BNP and its allies, who boycotted the polls, have announced a 48-hour nationwide hartal beginning at 6am today in their last-ditch effort to keep away voters from going to polling stations.

Meanwhile, fear has spread among people as some polling centres and electoral camps were torched in Rajshahi, Feni, Naogaon and Barguna on Friday with only a day left for the polls.

Besides, a supporter of an Awami League candidate was set ablaze in Khulna.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun on Friday said they came to know following the arrest of a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader in Magura that a certain group is planning acts of sabotage centring on the election day.

He, however, warned that saboteurs will have to face grave consequences if they try to commit any crime, and assured that foolproof security measures will be in place to make sure that voters exercise their franchise smoothly.

The EC has completed all necessary preparations to conduct the election in a free, fair and neutral manner.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said eight lakh members of law enforcement agencies have been deployed to maintain the law and order in this election. Along with them, there are 3,000 magistrates in the field.

Ruling Awami League candidates are fighting in 265 seats while Jatiya Party contenders in 264, Trinamool BNP in 135, National People’s Party in 121 and Bangladesh Congress contestants are there in 96 seats.

However, many Jatiya Party candidates have already quit the race while many others remained inactive. But their names remain on the ballot.

Voting will begin at 8:00am and continue till 4:00pm without any break.

A total of 119,691,633 voters will be able to exercise their suffrage in the election.

This is for the first time that ballot papers will be sent to polling centres from the returning officer’s office in the morning of the voting day to ensure that no questions arise over the credibility of the polls.

However, ballot papers will reach nearly 3,000 polling stations in remote and Char areas today.

About 8 lakh public servants will engage in conducting the polls in more than 42,000 polling stations with over 262,000 booths. Another one lakh will remain standby.

Apart from 3,000 magistrates and judges, eight lakh armed or unarmed and uniformed members of law enforcement agencies will be on duty to enforce the law and order.

Besides, 653 judicial magistrates were deployed on Friday across the country. They have been asked to set an example by punishing the guilty by prompt trial (summary trial) whenever they see any crime.

For the sake of credibility of the election, the EC has ordered filing cases against 50 persons till Friday over the violation of electoral code of conduct.

Electioneering ended at 8am on Friday. No person shall convene, hold or attend any public meeting, and no person shall promote or join any procession within the area of any election constituency during 48 hours prior to start of the polls and ending at 48 hours after conclusion of the polls.

The EC has formed a 22-member central monitoring and coordination cell to monitor the law-and-order situation. The cell will monitor the overall security from 8:00am today to 8:00am on 9 January.

They will also convey EC’s directives to the law enforcers immediately after any untoward incident takes place.

Brig Gen Abul Hasnat Mohammad Sayem, project director of Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services (IDEA) project (2nd Phases), is leading the cell.

Responsible officials of the cell will collect information from various sources and analyse the law-and-order situation at the field level as much as possible and inform the EC and send special reports in case of an urgent need.

The cell will assist returning officers, assistant returning officers and presiding officers through maintaining coordination between law enforcement forces deployed as mobile and striking forces for providing security for transportation and distribution of various electoral materials.

A total of 16 personnel, including two armed members of police and one armed member of Ansar, will guard each general voting centre outside metropolitan areas while the number of law enforcers will increase to 17 in important polling centres.

A total of 15 personnel, including five armed ones, will guard each regular voting centre in metropolitan areas while 16 personnel will stand guard at the risky polling centres.