Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League party has been the prime minister of Bangladesh since 2008 and is poised to win a fourth straight term because the election has been boycotted by the main opposition party – the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
The BNP is led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who is under house arrest after being convicted on corruption charges. The party has called a 48-hour nationwide general strike, which began at 6 am on Saturday. Party spokesperson Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said the strike was aimed at pressing for their demands for “resignation of the illegal government, establishment of a non-party neutral government and release of all party leaders and activists from prison”.
There have been incidents of violence and arson ahead of the election. At least five schools, including four designated as polling centres for the general election, have been set ablaze. Four coaches of the Jessore-Dhaka Benapole Express were also set on fire on Friday, killing four people. Arson related to the polls is suspected in both incidents.
Kazi Habibul Awal, Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh, said there is no question about the legitimacy of elections. “One issue is violence is visible and the voters are aware of the violence. If it is repeated, that may have a negative impact on the voters in turning up at polling stations, and I have no hesitation in admitting that. But we have engaged 8 lakh law enforcement personnel, all well-armed, who will be on duty during polling time,” he said.
“This time, a little crisis is going to happen as one major political group has said don’t go to the polling stations. Another major political group has said come to the polling station and show people that voters have turned up… Had BNP participated in the election, it would have been more competitive, more inclusive and more festive. That is a reality,” Mr Awal added.
Sheikh Hasina, whose government has arrested thousands of rival politicians and supporters ahead of the polls, has urged pro-democratic and law-abiding parties not to fuel ideas that “disrupt” the country’s constitutional process, news agency PTI reported.
The prime minister is credited with turning around the country’s economy and supercharging its garments industry. The growth has, however, slowed since mid-2022 and experts have said economic stability will be a major challenge for the next government. 
Over 100 foreign observers, including three from India, will monitor the election. India has said the election is an “internal matter” while some countries, including the United States, have called for credible and inclusive polls, according to PTI.
Voting will be held for 300 constituencies in the 350-strong Parliament – the Jatiyo Shangsad. The other 50 seats are reserved for women and are allotted based on the strength of the parties in the Parliament after the election.
Nearly 2,000 candidates are in the fray and a record 5.1% of them are women. Voting will begin at 8 am local time – when Sheikh Hasina is expected to cast her ballot – and end at 4 pm. Counting will start after voting ends and initial results are expected by Monday.

A tweet by a Maldives minister days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Lakshadweep archipelago has triggered a row on social media.

PM Modi’s visit to the country’s smallest Union Territory comprising 36 islands with an area of 32 sqkm was seen a move to promote tourism on the island.

In his tweet, the minister accused India of targeting Maldives and said India faces significant challenges in competing with the Maldives in beach tourism.

The tweet came after PM Modi’s posts on X (formerly Twitter) about snorkelling in the Lakshadweep went viral, prompting social media users in India to suggest the island Union Territory as an alternate tourist destination to the Maldives.

India-Maldives ties in the past few months have been strained, after President Mohamed Muizzu came to power.

Mr Muizzu took over as President in November 2023. In his election pledge, he said he would remove a small contingent of some 75 Indian military personnel in his island nation and change Maldives’s “India first” policy.

Mr Muizzu is scheduled to visit China on Monday, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement. Chinese President Xi Jinping invited him, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Friday.

Mr Muizzu, who is seen as a pro-China politician, took oath as the eighth President of the Maldives after defeating his India-friendly predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the presidential run-off held in September.

“China and the Maldives boast time-honoured friendship. In the past 52 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the two countries have treated each other with respect and supported each other, setting a fine example of equality and mutual benefits between countries of different sizes,” said Wang Wenbin, another spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry, according to news agency PTI.

Mr Muizzu’s predecessors in the recent past visited India first, considering the wide-ranging bilateral ties and the Maldives’ proximity to India, followed by China which has expanded its influence in the island nation by investing in major infrastructure projects there.

The new Maldives President had met PM Modi in Dubai on the sidelines of the COP28 climate talks in December 2023. Both leaders had agreed to set up a core group to discuss the multidimensional relations and further deepen ties.

The meeting also took place after Mr Muizzu asked New Delhi to withdraw 77 Indian military personnel from the Maldives and decided to review more than 100 bilateral agreements between the two countries.

The new Maldives Vice President Hussain Mohamed Latheef last month visited China, his first visit abroad, and took part in the China-sponsored China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation in Kunming.

Significantly, while praising Chinese infrastructure projects, Mr Latheef made no mention of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) under which most of the Maldives’ infrastructure projects were built.

The Maldives is India’s key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region and occupies a special place in India’s initiatives such as SAGAR, or Security and Growth for All in the Region, and the ‘Neighbourhood-First Policy’ of the Modi government.

The Maldives’ proximity to India, barely 70 nautical miles from the island of Minicoy in Lakshadweep, and 300 nautical miles from the mainland’s western coast, and its location at the hub of commercial sea lanes running through the Indian Ocean, gives it significant strategic importance.

With inputs from PTI

The Delhi government has extended the winter break till January 12 for students from nursery to Class 5 due to the cold weather.

Delhi minister Atishi in a post on X, formerly Twitter, said schools will remain closed for five more days for nursery to Class 5 children. “Schools in Delhi will remain closed for the next five days due to the prevailing cold weather conditions, for students from nursery to Class 5,” Atishi said.

Schools in Delhi will remain closed for the next 5 days due to the prevailing cold weather conditions, for students from Nursery to Class 5.

— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) January 7, 2024

The Delhi government, in a previous order yesterday, extended the winter break till January 10 in government-aided and unaided recognised private schools due to the cold wave and the India Meteorological Department’s ‘yellow alert’.

Hours after the order, however, the government retracted it. Then Atishi’s announcement came this morning.

There is extreme cold in Delhi, parts of east and northwest Rajasthan, Haryana and in isolated pockets over Punjab. The maximum temperatures at various stations showed a significant departure from the normal range for this time of the year.

Cold to severe cold conditions are likely to continue over Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, and a significant decrease thereafter, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD)

Maximum temperatures are in the range of 9-12 degree Celcius over many parts of Punjab and Haryana; and in the range of 13-16 degree Celsius over north Rajasthan, Delhi, northwest Madhya Pradesh and some parts of Uttar Pradesh. It is below normal by 4-9 degree Celsius in these areas.

The IMD said northwest and central India are likely to receive a fresh spell of rainfall with thunderstorms and hailstorm between Monday and Wednesday.