Voting for the 12th parliamentary election began this morning with the ruling Awami League victory set for a historic fourth consecutive term amid an opposition boycott.

Voting began at 8am and will continue till 4 pm without any break amid tight security in 299 out of the country’s 300 constituencies.

Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cast her vote at Dhaka City College in the capital this morning.

Voting in Naogaon-2 constituency has been postponed following the death of an independent contender, according to the Election Commission.

Some 1,970 candidates, including 436 independent contenders, are running in the general election.

In 80 to100 constituencies, tough fights are expected between AL candidates and party rivals who are running as independent candidates.

Out of 44 political parties registered with the Election Commission, 16 are out of the electoral race.

There are 11,93,33,157 voters — 6,05,92,169 male, 5,87,40,140 female and 848 transgender — under 42,024 polling stations in the constituencies, according to the EC.

Some eight lakh security personnel are on election duty to maintain the electoral atmosphere by checking violation of codes of conduct throughout the country.

Of them, 38,154 are Army personnel, 2,827 Navy personnel (19 districts), 45,185 (1158 platoons) BGB personnel, 2520 (75 platoons) Coast Guard personnel, 600 RAB teams and 95 RAB reserve teams, 184,959 police personnel and 5,58,500 are Ansar men.

Besides, 653 judicial magistrates and some 2,000 (2,076) executive magistrates are in the field to punish the violation of electoral code of conduct.

According to the Election Commission, some nine lakh polling officials, including 42024 presiding officers, 260,856 assistant presiding officers and some 522,000 polling officers, are there to ensure a smooth voting process.

On November 15, 2023, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal announced the schedule to hold the 12th general election on January 7, 2024.