Awami League (AL) leaders and activists are ready to welcome Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Sunday) for her public rally in Chattogram after a gap of ten years. The second largest city is all set to welcome the AL chief amid festivity. About 10 lakh people are expected to join the rally. The Prime Minister will deliver her speech from a 160-foot, boat-shaped stage. Chattogram City Unit Awami League has organised the rally at the Polo Ground, a major venue for a big gathering. Read more: Hasan Mahmud inspects Polo Ground ahead of hugely anticipated AL rally During her day-long visit, Hasina will attend the President Parade-2022 at Bangladesh Military Academy in Bhatiary. She will also take salute at the passing out parade at the BMA. The government has taken massive development schemes for Chattogram which is now under implementation. PM Hasina will also inaugurate 30 development projects here today. She will address the rally at Railway Pologround at 3pm. Colourful arches and gates have been constructed on various roads of the town with the posters and banners of the Prime Minister. Billboards, banners, balloons, festoons and posters welcoming the Prime Minister and the party chief have been hung in city. Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) has carried out beautification works on different roads ahead of the rally, including cleaning and painting footpaths, decorating flyovers with colourful lights and repairing dilapidated roads in different areas. Read more: Ctg Rally: PM Hasina to speak as chief guest on Sunday Awami League presidium member and former minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain said the Prime Minister will address the rally here after 10 years and will talk about the national important issues and local issues. Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) has taken strict security measures marking the rally. Three layers of security have been ensured throughout the city. Members of Rapid Action Battelions (Rab) and armed forces are deployed along with 7,500 police members, said CMP Commissioner Krishnapad Roy. Hasina plans to visit different districts in stages before the 12th national election. As part of this, the first public meeting was held at Jashore Stadium. Through the public rally in Jashore, election campaign of the ruling party began. On December 7, she will address another party rally at the Sheikh Kamal Cricket Stadium in Cox's Bazar.

The leaders and activists of Awami League (AL) are preparing to hold the party’s rally in Jashore on Thursday when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to be present as chief guest. A boat-shaped stage has already been prepared at the rally venue at Jashore Stadium. The law enforcement agencies and district administration deployed Rapid Action Battalion’s (Rab) dog squad with other precautions from Tuesday to ensure security as around “10 lakh” people are expected to join the rally. Read more: Don’t harm nature during project implementation: PM Hasina Jashore District Awami League senior vice-president and convener of stage decoration sub-committee Abdul Majid said they were ready to make the rally successful.   Jashore District AL President Shahidul Islam Milon said the people of the district and the southern region are eagerly waiting to hear the speech of the Prime Minister. Expecting the Jashore stadium to be a human sea tomorrow, Milon said additional preparations have also been made to hold the rally in an orderly and festive atmosphere. “The PM’s rally in Jashore will prove that the Awami League is against anarchy and chaos. And the party is determined to take the country forward in line with the spirit of the Liberation War,” said the AL leader. Read more: PM Hasina hails the Armed Forces for standing by the people : PM A team of 400 volunteers has been formed to make the rally a success. The members of this committee will assist those coming to the rally, said District AL Secretary for Relief and Social Welfare Affairs and convener of Discipline and Volunteer Sub-Council Sukhen Majumdar. Preparations for drinking water and sanitation at the rally in Jashore Stadium connecting the field of Abdur Razzak College have also been completed properly, said the district’s Public Health Engineering Directorate Executive Engineer Zahid Parvez. From Jashore airport to the stadium, the walls of public-private and autonomous institutions have been painted in different colours with the PM's speech and various slogans of the party. Repair work of the damaged road has already been completed. Read more: Bangladesh has changed a lot under Awami League govt: PM Hasina Jashore Sadar Traffic Inspector Subhendu Kumar Munshi said 12 specific routes have been allowed to reach the venue. No vehicles will enter the city on the day of the rally. Around 20 parking areas have been selected as per the target of district Awami League, he added.

Authorities at Pabna’s Bhangura upazila have imposed restrictions on public assembly to avert any untoward incident as two rival political parties announced simultaneous rallies at the same venue. The restrictions applied under Section 144 of the CrPc have been in force in the upazila since 6 am, and will stay until 12 am today (September 5, 2022), said the local administration. Read:Section 144 imposed in Khagrachhari to avert possible BCL-BNP clash Bhangura Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) and Executive Magistrate Mohammad Nahid Hasan Khan issued this order yesterday night. He said that the administration resorted to the restriction to keep the law and order situation under control. All types of public gatherings in the area adjacent to and around the upazila sadar have been banned. Bhangura unit BNP called a protest rally on Monday protesting the hike in the prices of fuel and daily commodities as well as the recent attacks on BNP activists. Read:Section 144 imposed in Barishal’s Hijla over fears of AL infighting On the other hand, the upazila unit of Awami League (AL) announced a rally against ‘BNP’s anarchy’ at the same place. Fearing deterioration in law and order situation, the administration imposed Section 144 to maintain peace in the area, said Md Faisal Bin Ahsan, officer-in-charge (OC) of Bhangura police station.

BNP senior leader Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku on Wednesday said Awami League (AL) is keen on the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the next general election to implement its new manipulation plan. “We believed them (AL) once earlier and joined the election (under them). But they completed the day’s voting at night,” he said. Read:AL in favour of using EVMs in national election: Quader The BNP leader said the ruling party is now seeking the use of EVMs in the polls so that they need not steal votes at night again. “They’ll do it this time by pressing the EVM buttons sitting in the polling stations.” Talking to reporters on the grave premises of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman in the capital, Tuku said their party will no longer participate in mockery in the name of election. Earlier, he along with the leaders of Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal placed a wreath at Zia’s grave, marking the formation of an eight-member partial committee of the BNP’s youth wing. Tuku, a BNP standing committee member, said their party will not go to the polls until a neutral government is established. As a democratic party, he said BNP wants the election to be held in a democratic atmosphere. The BNP leader recalled that then prime minister Khaleda Zia accepted defeat after she had resigned by forming a caretaker government in 1996. “That’s called democracy.” He urged the Awami League government to arrange the next election under a non-party neutral administration if it has that courage like Khaleda Zia. “If we lose in such an election, we will accept it. We want to see fair play,” the BNP leader said. Sought his comment on the Election Commission’s (EC’s) proposal on holding the national election in four days, Tuku said it will not be acceptable in Bangladesh. “Since the birth of Bangladesh, the election has been held in one day. I don't know whether or not the (Chief Election Commissioner) is a hybrid one. I don't know why he wants to do it in four days,” Tuku said. Read: Despite pros and cons, EVMs better than ballots: CEC If the election is held in four days, he said the election results will be kept at the offices of the deputy commissioners (DCs) whom people do not trust. “So, it won’t happen in Bangladesh.” As his attention was drawn to AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader’s remark that BNP will finally join polls, Tuku said, “I have doubts whether the people of Bangladesh value Obaidul Quader's words…there’s no reason for us to join the election as per Obaidul Quader’s expectation. They don't even have a good record to encourage us to go to polls under them.”

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday alleged that the Awami League (AL) government ,whenever it comes to power, resorts to distortion of history to undermine Ziaur Rahman. "History has been distorted many times since independence when Awami League came to power," said Fakhrul at a rally organised by BNP at Chattogram Polo Ground which has a connection with party founder Zia’s memory marking the golden jubilee of independence. He also said that AL govt has turned the country into a failed state snatching people’s voting rights. Read:Fakhrul barred from visiting Kalurghat Betar Station “The people must be given the right to vote without delay. Otherwise, we’ll start a movement for the fall of the government uniting the people of Chattogram,” he added. BNP Standing Committee members Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Khandokar Mosarraf Hossain and Organizing Secretary Mahbubur Rahman Shamim also spoke at the event. Earlier in the day, police barred Fakhrul and some other senior leaders from visiting Kalurghat Betar Station to pay homage to the martyrs marking the Independence Day. Read: BNP has no interest in EC talks: Fakhrul BNP sought permission from police a few days back to visit Kalurghat Betar Station and hold a rally in the city, marking the Independence Day. Later, Awami League also announced to hold a rally at the same venue the same day. Under the circumstances, the police did not give BNP permission to go to the Betar Station. However, the party was allowed to hold a rally at Polo Ground.