Voting is in progress in Bangladesh’s violence-plagued general elections amid calls from opposition BNP and its allies to resist the polls. The polling, which started at 7.30 AM Indian time, will end at 4.30 PM. Election Commission officials said, polling is taking place in only 147 of 300 constituencies due to the boycott by the BNP and its allies. A total of 390 candidates, mostly from the Awami League and its ally Jatiya Party, are in the fray. Candidates in other constituencies will be declared elected unopposed.

With the deployment of over 3 lakh 75 thousand security personnel including army across the country, the government has endeavoured to provide maximum security to voters. However with widespread violence and arson across the country, a sense of fear and insecurity looms over the electrorate.

Meanwhile, police said suspected opposition activists hacked to death an assistant presiding officer of a polling centre in north-western Thakurgaon while five others were killed in clashes with police across the country.

The BNP-led opposition had demanded postponement of the polls and setting up of a non-party caretaker government, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rejected its demands. Political violence during strikes enforced by the opposition since November have left nearly 140 people dead.