The root of the present crisis over the parliamentary polls lies in the Supreme Court's verdict on the 13th constitutional amendment case which declared the election-time non-partisan caretaker government system unconstitutional. And the solution to the crisis, to a large extent, also lies in the SC verdict.

So far, ten parliamentary elections were held in Bangladesh, of which three—the 1988 election during the Ershad regime, the February 15, 1996 election under the BNP government, and the January 5, 2014 election under the Awami League-led Grand Alliance government—were one-sided.

Rumour is the new buzzword in Bangladesh's political lingo after it was thrust back into the limelight in October when students launched a nationwide movement for road safety. Since then, the government has launched a crusade against rumours, going to great lengths to monitor and suppress them.

Authoritarian governments should consider holding fair elections.” This intriguing comment by Mike Touchton, a professor of political science at Boise State University of Idaho in USA, is certainly worth pondering about. But why should such governments consider doing such a thing? “It just might invite more prosperity,” he explains in an article on the subject.

The civil service bill placed in parliament on Sunday with a provision to shield government employees from arrest by police in cases filed against them on charges of criminal offences committed in connection with their duties, raises question if political memories are really wafer thin.

On September 19, 2018, over the vehement objections of civil society and media representatives, the Parliament passed the Digital Security Act, 2018. The concern is that it is a draconian law which will impede freedom of expression, including individual and media freedom.

On July 30, in a massive official drive in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam to segregate “the illegal infiltrators” from legal citizens, a list depriving over four million people of the right to live in the country was made public.

This is a very interesting year for democratic governance in Bangladesh. The national parliamentary elections will be held at the end of 2018. The last national elections, in 2014, was mired in violence and was controversial in many sense.

The year 2018 is one of elections. A total of five city corporation elections are to be held this year, of which elections in Khulna and Gazipur have already been held.

Judging from the May 15 election in Khulna, and the Gazipur city corporation election on June 26, five distinct features of a controlled election have emerged.

Notwithstanding the serious questions raised about the credibility of Khulna and Gazipur city corporation elections, we had in the recent past free and fair elections in Narayanganj, Kumilla and Rangpur cities.

The good thing about Gazipur City Corporation polls is that it was peaceful and no incident of casualty was recorded which is rare in our election history.

The Myanmar government announced on May 31 that it will establish an independent commission of inquiry to investigate human rights violations and related issues following attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on Myanmar security posts in August last year.

The just-concluded Khulna City Corporation election may be considered as the beginning of the run-up to the next parliamentary polls. Elections to four other city corporations are expected to be held in the next few months before the national polls which may be held in December. Five years ago, the same things happened in the run-up to the last parliamentary election held on January 5, 2014.

Bangladesh is now on the election highway. Aside from the national election, seven city corporation elections are to be held this year.

Heroic and brave brothers and sisters of Independent Bangla Desh. In the name of your President, Bangla Bandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Government of the People's Republic of Bangla Desh, we salute you and pay homage to the departed souls of the martyrs who have sacrificed their lives in defence of their motherland. They will shine in our memory as long as Bangla Desh exists, as long as a single citizen

Almost seven months into the latest round of influx of Rohingyas into Bangladesh— around 700,000 have arrived since August 25 of last year—Myanmar has done next to nothing to show that it is serious about the implementation of the repatriation deal signed with Bangladesh and the safe return of the Rohingya.

Unfortunately, leftist leaders in our country remain in the periphery of such TV talk shows, and unlike the traditional reach of the two major parties across the Bangladeshi diaspora, the reach of the Left remains low and unconvincing.

One of the first things that Biplab Kumar Deb did even before taking oath as the new chief minister of Tripura was make a phone call to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and seek her cooperation for the development of the landlocked northeastern state.

The UN Resolution 347180 (1979) states that “the peace and welfare of the world require maximum participation of women on equal terms with men in all fields.”