Bangladesh votes today: First election after 2024 uprising in numbers

Bangladesh Elections: Bangladesh's voting is a crucial parliamentary election that could reshape the country after years of political instability. The vote today is the first election since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted following violent protests in August 2024.

Voting began in 299 of 300 parliamentary constituencies across the country at 7:30 AM (local time) and will continue until 4:30 PM. Voting in one constituency has been cancelled due to the death of a candidate.

Counting begins soon after voting ends, and the results are expected by Friday. Here are some facts and figures about today's election:

The eligible electorate includes about 6.48 crore men, 6.29 crore women and 1,234 transgender voters, according to official data shared by Bangladesh's Election Commission.

There are about 50 lakh first-time voters. Remember, the 2024 uprising against Hasina's rule was led by students and young people who are expected to be influential in the election:

The interim government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has deployed nearly 1 million police personnel, including about 100,000 from the army to ensure peaceful polling.

To help ensure this, around 500 foreign observers and journalists will be present, including observers from the European Union and the Commonwealth, to which Bangladesh belongs.

Voting is taking place in 299 constituencies, with polling in one seat postponed following the death of a candidate and will be rescheduled for a later date.

So, voters will elect 299 lawmakers directly, with a further 50 women chosen from party lists. The election in one seat has been cancelled due to the death of a candidate.

To form a government, a party or coalition needs a simple majority of directly elected seats — at least 151 seats out of 300. The 50 women’s reserved seats are allocated after the election results, based on a party’s share of the 300. These don’t affect the initial threshold for forming the government.

As many as 2,028 candidates are in the fray, contesting 299 parliamentary seats nationwide.

The election is largely seen as a two-way contest between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and an 11-party alliance headed by the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamist party.

The BNP's Tarique Rahman, the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is seen as a frontrunner to be the next Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

BNP's challenger is an 11-party alliance led by the Jamaat-e-Islami, a conservative religious group. A new party formed by the uprising student leaders called the National Citizen Party, or NCP, is part of this alliance.

The elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024 under Hasina's administration were controversial as they were widely believed to be rigged in Hasina's favour. Major parties. Mostly, Hasina's opponents boycotted the elections.