Bangladesh Election 2026: Vote-rigging, blasts, attacks on journos mar poll day

• Voting for Bangladesh's 13th parliamentary elections began on Thursday, February 12.
• This election is the first in decades without Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League Party, which has been disbanded.
• The main competition is between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami.
• Nearly 127 million registered voters are eligible across 299 constituencies, with a referendum on an 84-point reform charter also underway.
• Security has been heightened, with drones, body-worn cameras, and CCTV monitoring sensitive polling stations.