Dhaka, Bangladesh — Chanting slogans outside the headquarters of the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) on Sunday, student activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) accused the body of bias, as police and border guards stood watch.Ahead of the February 12 national vote, the members of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) — the BNP’s student wing — were demanding that the BEC allow candidates with dual citizenship to contest.The same night, though, the polling authority came under verbal attack from the opposite political corner too. Leaders of the National Citizen Party (NCP), which emerged from the protests that led to the ouster of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, also accused the BEC of bias and acting in favour of the BNP.The competing accusations against the election body underscore a deepening divide over who should be allowed to contest in the elections that threatens to derail the country’s preparations for the elections.NCP spokesperson Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan said at a news conference on Sunday that the party might reconsider its participation in the election.The disputeUnder Bangladeshi law, foreign citizens are barred from contesting parliamentary elections.During scrutiny of nomination papers and a subsequent nine-day appeal process that ended on Sunday, the BEC reviewed dozens of objections related to the alleged dual citizenship of …
