After the opposition boycott, Awami League is expected to win the poll on Sunday

Amid an opposition boycott, Bangladesh is scheduled to hold its 12th parliamentary election on Sunday, guaranteeing the ruling Awami League victory for an unprecedented fourth straight term.

The Awami League and 27 other political parties are participating in the polls, while the main opposition BNP and a few minor parties are not.

Analysts predict that the AL will win big in the polls to take back power and continue its 15-year rule for a further five years, until 2029, as a result of the opposition boycott.

After Hasina's government rejected their proposal to hand over power to a nonpartisan administration to oversee a free and fair election, the opposition has decided to stay out of the race.

In a first for the nation's political history, the ruling party is up against stiff competition, primarily from members of the party running as independents.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged people to visit polling places early on Thursday in a televised speech to the nation that marked the end of her election campaign. She asked them to vote for the boat, the electoral emblem of her party.
However, a 48-hour hartal, or general strike, has been called by the opposition BNP and its allies, including on election day.

Following a string of arson assaults on polling places and a fire on a moving train, the Benapole Express, on Friday night that left four people, including children, severely burned dead, security has been increased nationwide.

According to the EC, election officials dispersed around the nation on Saturday to deliver election supplies, including ballots, to voting places. On the day of voting, the ballots, however, will be sent to the centres early in the morning.

Voting in 299 of the 300 constituencies in the nation will commence at 8 a.m. and go nonstop until 4 p.m. The Election Commission has announced a postponement of voting in the Naogaon-2 constituency due to the passing of an independent candidate.

About 1,970 candidates are vying for the general election, including 436 independents.

Tough contests between AL candidates and their competitors running as independents are anticipated in 80–100 constituencies.

With the 'boat' emblem, the ruling party's nominees are running for 266 seats in the election. The party shares 26 seats with the Jatiya Party and six seats with three of its 14-party alliance's partners: three seats are up for Jasod, two for the Workers' Party, and one for the Jatiya Party (JP-Manju).

Due to the cancellation of the candidatures of its nominated candidates in Barishal-4 and Cox's Bazar-1, the AL does not have a candidate in either constituency. In Barishal-4, AL MP Pankaj Nath is standing as an independent, whereas Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, the chairman of the Kalyan Party, is running in Cox's Bazar-1.

Candidates nominated by the Jatiya Party are formally running for 265 seats. Of the 265 JP candidates, 26 are running as representatives of the alliance led by the AL. Nonetheless, a few Jatiya Party candidates have formally withdrawn from the election.

Of the 44 political parties that have registered with the Election Commission, sixteen are not participating in the election.

According to the EC, there are 11,93,32,934 voters with voting rights under 260,856 booths of 42,024 polling stations in the constituencies – 6,05,92,197 males, 5,87,39,889 females, and 848 transgender people.

Approximately 10,000 polling places in the January 7 election are deemed vulnerable, despite the Election Commission designating them as significant polling places. More stringent security protocols have been implemented for the most susceptible polling locations.

Approximately eight lakh security personnel are on election duty to uphold the electoral environment by monitoring transgressions of national standards of conduct.

38,154 members of the Army, 2,827 members of the Navy (19 districts), 44,912 members of the BGB (1151 platoons), 2355 members of the Coast Guard (70 platoons), 600 Rab teams and 95 Rab reserve teams, 174,767 members of the police force, and 5,14,288 members of the Ansar group were among them.

In addition, there are approximately 2,000 executive magistrates and 653 judicial magistrates (1970) assigned to deal with election code of conduct violations.

Nine lakh poll workers, including 42024 presiding officers, 260,856 assistant presiding officers, and over 522,000 polling officers, are present across the nation to cast ballots, according to the Election Commission.

To conduct the election, there are 590 assistant returning officers, including 493 upazila nirbahi officers (UNO), 56 upazila election officers, 14 deputy directors of Local Government, 8 additional deputy commissioners, 11 zonal executive officers, 5 cantonment executive officers, 2 assistant commissioners (Land), and 1 circle officer. There are 66 returning officers, consisting of 64 deputy commissioners and 2 divisional commissioners of Dhaka and Chattogram.

The Election Commission has created distinct security measures for polling places situated outside of metropolitan areas and those located within; a team of fifteen to seventeen security personnel will be assigned to guard each polling place.

Every regular polling place outside of urban areas will be guarded by a group of fifteen to sixteen security personnel, comprising two armed police officers, one ansar, ten ansars with sticks, one or two village police officers with sticks, and ten ansars with rifles. But a team of sixteen to seventeen security personnel, including three armed police officers, would be present at every significant voting place (which are thought to be susceptible stations). Every polling place inside the metropolitan region will be secured by a 15-person security squad, which consists of three armed police officers, one armed ansar, another armed ansar, and ten other armed ansars.

The 26 JP candidates who are running as AL-led alliance contenders are in Thakurgaon- 3, Nilphamari- 3 and 4, Rangpur- 1 and 3, Kurigram- 1 and 2, Gaibandha- 1 and 2, Bogura- 2 and 3, Satkhira-2, Patuakhali -1, Barishal- 3, Pirojpur- 3, Mymensingh- 5 and 8, Kishoreganj- 3, Manikganj- 1, Dhaka- 18, Habiganj- 1, Brahmanbaria- 2, Feni- 3, Chhatogram- 5 and 8, and Narayanganj- 5.