Violence erupts at launch of Bangladesh election campaign; one dead

A political rally in Bangladesh came under fire on Thursday, leaving one person dead and two others, officials said, as campaigning began for the upcoming polls amid concerns over rising political tensions.

Major parties opened their campaigns on Wednesday for the elections slated for February 2026, the first since a deadly uprising last year toppled the autocratic government of former ruler Sheikh Hasina.

Campaigning turned violent almost immediately.

The shooting took place at a rally on Wednesday for the powerful Bangladesh National Party (BNP) attended by hundreds in the port city of Chattogram, police said.

Senior BNP leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said: “It was an attempt to destabilise politics and disrupt the election”.

The BNP are widely seen as the frontrunner in the polls.

Police said the gunmen opened fire quickly on a crowd of hundreds at the rally, but insisted that the BNP candidate was not the target.

“The miscreants… shot their target, and fled in a flash,” senior police officer Hasib Aziz told reporters late on Wednesday.

Candidate Ershad Ullah was shot and wounded, along with a supporter. A third man was killed.

“We would urge candidates to inform the police station at least 24 hours prior to any election campaign, so that more police can be deployed,” Aziz said.

‘Show restraint’

The South Asian nation of about 170 million people has been in political turmoil since Hasina was overthrown by the student-led uprising in August 2024.

Campaigning is technically unofficial because the election commission is not expected to announce the voting day until December.

Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner serving as chief adviser, has repeatedly promised the elections will be held in February.

Yunus has ordered an investigation into the shooting, his media team said in a statement.

The interim government “calls on all political actors and their supporters to uphold calm, show restraint, and ensure that the February general election takes place in an atmosphere of peace, dignity, and fairness”, it said on Thursday.

Bangladesh police offered cash rewards on Wednesday for the surrender of more than 1,300 machine guns, rifles and pistols looted during last year’s uprising.

Lieutenant General Md Mainur Rahman told an army news conference on Wednesday that the military would provide security to ensure peaceful polls and that they would return to barracks after the election.

“We hope stability will be strengthened, law and order will remain normal, and we will return to the cantonment once the election is held,” Rahman said.

Major parties have unveiled their candidate lists, with the BNP saying this week that 80-year-old leader and three-time prime minister Khaleda Zia will run again, as well as her son, Tarique Rahman.

Bangladesh’s largest religious political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, said it had finalised a preliminary candidate list and was “engaging with other parties on the prospect of seat-sharing”, senior leader Abdullah Mohammad Taher told AFP.