Amid continued disagreements over ‘level playing field’ by contesting parties, Bangladesh went to polls on Sunday (Dec 30) to choose who will take the reins of the country for the next five years.
The ruling Awami League and its allies are in a buoyant mood not merely because they are confident of a consecutive third-term but also because of the economic progress the administration led by Sheikh Hasina presided over in the decade since 2009.
During its campaign, the ruling coalition constantly emphasised on continuity of government to maintain the pace of development, warning that if the opposition assumes office all development initiatives will be halted.
The political opposition, shaped around Dr. Kamal Hossain in the form of an alliance ‘Jatiya Oikya Front’ that counts BNP as its largest member, does not argue with the economic aspects, which was clear from it electoral pledges, where it promised to continue all development works initiated by the incumbent administration.
But it focuses on, what it says, the Hasina-led government’s authoritarian nature in suppressing dissent and opposition activists.
It promised to remove curbs on free speech and the media and to rein in the police if it unseats Hasina from her decade-long rule.
The opposition alliance’s manifesto also mentions bringing a balance of power between the president and the prime minister.
It calls for a maximum limit to the tenure of a prime minister to two terms in an effort to prevent one-party rule.
On Sunday, around 104 million voters are expected to give their verdict to elect who will be at the helm of the country until 2023.
The Election Commission has all the registered political parties contesting in the 11th national election.
In the 10th election held in 2014 amongst widespread violence, the BNP and its allies, as well as some other registered parties, decided to stay away.
The election schedule was announced on Nov 8 by Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda fixing Dec 23 for voting, but it was revised on Nov 12 delaying the polls by seven days.
The official campaigning started on Dec 10 after the polls logos were allotted ended on the morning of Dec 28, as decided by the Election.

KEY FACTS OF 11TH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
     The voting started at 8am and will continue until 4pm in 205,691 polling booths among 40,051 voting centres.
     Among 103,826,823 voters, 52,371,620 are men and 51,455,203 women.
     Due to the death of a candidate, the election will be contested in 299 seats out of 300. The EC has re-scheduled the voting date of the remaining Gaibandha-3 seat to Jan 27.
     Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are being used in six constituencies — Dhaka-6, Dhaka-13, Chattogram -9, Rangpur-3, Khulna-2 and Satkhira-2. The remaining seats will have the traditional method of vote casting using ballot paper.
     After counting is finished, the presiding officers in each voting centre will send a written copy of the results to the returning officers. The returning officers will then count the total number of votes and send the results to the EC. The official result of the election will be announced from the Election Commission offices in Dhaka.

CANDIDATES AND PARTIES
A total of 1,861 aspirants are contesting the elections. Among them, 1,733 are running on tickets from the 39 registered political parties while the remaining 128 are independent candidates.
As many as 272 candidates of the ruling Awami League and 16 of its allies are contesting the election with the party’s ‘boat’ symbol. 260 of them are from the Awami League. Its key ally Jatiya Party is contesting with ‘plough’ logo.
A total of 282 nominees of the BNP and eight of its allies are using the ‘paddy sheaf’ symbol. They include 257 from the BNP. Outside the registered parties, the candidates of the Jamaat-e-Islami and Nagorik Oikya are also contesting under the ‘paddy sheaf’ symbol.
Different political parties are contesting the election with a variety of symbols:
Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB): Sickle, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BaSaD): Ladder, Bangladesh Revolutionary Workers’ Party: Spade, Islami Andolan Bangladesh: winnowing fan, Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF): Television, Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon: Banyan Tree, Islami Oikya Jote: Minaret, Progressive Democratic Party (PDP): Tiger, Zaker Party: Rose.
EVMs
In the 6 seats where EVMs will be used, there are 5,045 polling stations in 845 centres. Around 2.1 million voters will be voting and they will be picking six candidates from a list of 48.
OBSERVERS
A total of 25,900 representatives from 81 local observer bodies, 38 (Invited from FEMBoSA, AAEA, OIC and Commonwealth) foreign observers, 64 officials and diplomats from foreign missions, and 61 Bangladeshi nationals working in overseas organizations will be watching the election.
STAFF
As many as 66 Returning Officers in districts and 582 Assistant Returning Officers in Upazilas have been tasked with the overall responsibility for the election.
A total of 40,183 presiding officers are in charge of the voting centres. Under them, 207,312 assistant presiding officers and 414,624 polling officers are directly handling the votes.
SECURITY
In order to tackle law and order, a little over 600,000 members of different law-enforcing agencies have deployed in voting centres. Among them, 121,000 are police, 446,000 Ansars and 41,000 village police.
As many as 600 platoons (30 people per platoon) of elite police unit, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and 983 platoons of paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members have been deployed in the voting areas.
In addition, 414 platoons of Bangladesh Army troops in 389 Upazilas while 48 platoons of Bangladesh Navy in 18 Upazilas and 42 platoons of the Coastguard have been deployed as strike force.
A total of 1,328 executive magistrates and 640 judicial magistrates across the country will be residing with law enforcers.
As many as 244 members of 122 election investigation committees will be present in the voting field to investigate complaints.