299 constituencies ready for tomorrow’s polls

Sayeed Muhammad of DOT :
The Election Commission has completed its last-minute preparations for the upcoming 11th general election to 299 parliamentary constituencies starting at 8am tomorrow.
Some 39 registered political parties are contesting the polls, making it a participatory one after 10 years of waiting since the January 5 election of 2014 was boycotted by the main opposition BNP.
Both Awami League and BNP have their own alliances, with Islamic Andolan Bangladesh in the polls race as a lone political party in 292 constituencies, reports the Dhaka Tribune.
About 104.2 million voters will be allowed to exercise their franchise in 299 constituencies as Gaibandha 3 constituency’s election has been postponed after the death of the Jatiya Oikya Front candidate.
The commission scheduled January 27, 2019 for the constituency’s election, instead.
As many as 1,861 candidates are in the 299 constituencies among which 128 are contesting independently.
More than 700,000 members of law enforcement agencies will ensure law and order during the election.
Candidates started their election campaign on December 10, which ended at 8am yesterday.
On Thursday, Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Shahadat Hossain said they are fully prepared for the election.
“We are done with our preparation. Election campaigning ended at 8am on Friday. No one can conduct campaigns after the scheduled time.”
There are 40,1863 polling centres and 207,312 polling booths in across the country. Among them, 25,827 (64%) of polling centres have been marked important, not risky, by the commission.
More than 700,000 members of law enforcement agencies have been assigned election duties.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Coast Guard, Ansar, and police are already in the field—to ensure security—plus the army is deployed across the country, to act as a striking force during the election.
Police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and the Armed Police Battalion were deployed across the country December 26 on election duty and will remain till Tuesday.