At least 14 polling stations and two schools were set on fire in Bangladesh between Friday evening and Saturday ahead of the country’s general elections, reported ANI.

Nearly 11.96 crore Bangladeshis are registered to vote on Sunday in over 42,000 polling stations during the twelfth general elections in the country.

This comes amid the main Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party Nationalist Party, led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, boycotting the elections and starting a strike on Saturday. The party has claimed that no election under the incumbent Sheikh Hasina government would be fair and credible, reported PTI.

The call for the boycott and strike came a day after authorities deployed Armed forces to maintain law and order during the elections. “Members of the Armed forces will be stationed at nodal points and other places in every district, sub-district, and metropolitan area,” read a statement by Bangladesh’s Inter-Service Public Relations.

Despite the security arrangements, unidentified persons set ablaze the Sheikh Sundar Masterpara Primary School, designated as a polling centre, at around 10 pm on Saturday. Earlier, the Dhalaipar Government Primary School centre in Chunarughat Upazila was set on fire. Five people were arrested for torching a centre in Mymensingh.

At least five schools, which were supposed to be used as polling centres, were set afire in Feni and Rajshahi in separate incidents from Thursday night to Friday morning, according to ANI.

On Friday, at least four people died after a passenger train caught fire. The police suspected the incident to be an arson attack.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party demanded an investigation supervised by the United Nations into the incident, alleging that it was a pre-planned act of sabotage ahead of the polls.

Meanwhile, Brussels-based think-tank International Crisis Group has said Bangladesh is at a critical juncture.

“The once vibrant, if imperfect democracy will soon hold a third election without a credible alternative to the incumbent government,” the think-tank said in a report titled Beyond the Election: Overcoming Bangladesh’s Political Deadlock.

It added: “With few credible alternatives at the ballot box, discontented Bangladeshis are taking to the streets, and the risk of political violence remains high.”

Political observers have said that Hasina’s ruling Awami League is expected to win for a fourth time with a majority of 263 out of the total 300 seats.

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