The poll panel in Bangladesh on Wednesday announced that the 12th general election will be held on January 7 amid nationwide protests by the Opposition parties, including the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami, who are demanding a caretaker government for the conduct of the polls.

According to the schedule announced by Kazi Habibul Awal, chief election commissioner, nomination papers can be submitted till November 30 while the scrutiny of the papers will be conducted between December 1 and 4 and the final date for the withdrawal of candidature will be December 17. The counting will start immediately after the polls and the full results can be expected by midnight.

Bangladesh has 350 seats in parliament but elections are held for only 300. The remaining 50 seats are reserved for women, which are apportioned on elected party positions in parliament.

In the last general election, the ruling Awami League won 287 of the 298 seats on which elections were held on December 30, 2018. The margin of the victory prompted the Opposition parties to raise several questions about the manner in which the polls were held. The one-sided results of the last elections had been an Achilles Heel of the Sheikh Hasina government as the outcome had been cited by the Opposition parties to demand a poll-time caretaker government.

Though the ruling Awami League has swatted away the demand citing that such provisions do not exist in the Constitution, the Opposition parties — emboldened by tacit support they have been receiving from the US and some of its allies — have been holding on to the demand and have threatened larger movements to force Hasina to resign and pave the way for free and fair polls. The BNP and Jamaat had boycotted the polls in 2013 as their demand was not met.

While announcing the election schedule — beamed live across Bangladesh, which was under precautionary security cover — the poll panel chief invited all the parties to take part in the elections.

"We have held discussions with various stakeholders on numerous occasions. Heard them out, heard their suggestions, explained our position. We have also called different political parties for dialogue. The EC, with the government's help, wants peaceful, participatory and free polls. All political parties must abide by the code of conduct, maintain law and order," said Awal.

The ruling Awami League and some of its allies welcomed the election schedule and its supporters brought out rallies in the capital Dhaka — with the party's symbol: a country boat — as preparations for the polls.

However, Opposition parties like the BNP rejected the schedule and attacked the poll panel for its "unilateral announcement" without considering their views. Islami Andolan Bangladesh, an Opposition party, also rejected the schedule and announced a fresh protest programme across the country on Thursday. The BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami also have protest programmes lined up for the coming few days.

Some pro-government civil society members told this newspaper that the announcement of the poll schedule was important to clear the confusion among the general public about whether elections would be held on time. They also hailed the role of the Election Commission chief for doing his job despite the pressure from western countries, especially the US.

"Peter Haas, the US ambassador, met the election commissioner recently and urged him to call all political parties for a dialogue to clear the impasse... Could he have done something like this in India?" asked a civil society member.

"Despite such pressure, the poll panel stuck to its plan and announced the schedule. The EC should be complemented," the source added.

Those against the government said such a unilateral announcement would create further complications and trigger angry street protests. "The element of uncertainty will only go up as all the Opposition parties will now hit the streets... Our economy is already under stress and things will worsen from here," an academic from Dhaka said over the phone.