Diplomats stationed in Dhaka on Thursday expressed their hope to see democracy in action in polling centres across the city on February 1. 

The capital turned into a city of processions on Thursday as both mayoral and councillor candidates staged showdowns to demonstrate their popularity at the last moment since the curtain is set to fall on electioneering in the elections to the two Dhaka city corporations on Thursday midnight.

BNP mayoral candidate in Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) polls Tabith Awal on Saturday once again demanded that the Election Commission (EC) refrain from using electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the upcoming Dhaka city polls.

BNP senior leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain on Thursday said people will sharply react this time if the upcoming city elections are ‘rigged' like the last general election.