Bangladesh Gears Up For First Polls After Hasina's Exit; CEC To Announce Date Today

Dhaka: Bangladesh's Election Commission will announce today the date of parliamentary elections scheduled for February, a commission official said, after a student-led uprising toppled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.

Bangladesh has been governed by an interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus since August last year, when long-serving Hasina, opens new tab fled to India in the face of deadly street protests against her government.

Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin will announce the election schedule in a national broadcast at 6 pm (1200 GMT), senior Election Commission Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told reporters.

A national referendum on implementing the so-called 'July Charter', a state reform plan drafted in the aftermath of the unrest, is also expected to be held on the same day.

The charter proposes wide-ranging changes to state institutions, including curbing executive powers, strengthening the independence of the judiciary and election authorities, and preventing the misuse of law-enforcement agencies.

Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party is widely seen as the frontrunner in the upcoming polls, competing alongside the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which has returned to electoral politics after the interim government eased restrictions.

Jamaat, Bangladesh's biggest Islamic party, could not contest elections after a 2013 court ruling that its registration as a political party conflicted with the country's secular constitution. Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority country of 173 million people.

Hasina’s Awami League, which has been barred from contesting the election, has warned of unrest if the ban is not lifted.

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