The government should dissolve parliament before the announcement of schedule for the 11th national election to ensure a level playing field, speakers at a roundtable said yesterday.

With multiple aspirant candidates already campaigning hard in almost all constituencies, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina last night issued a tough warning to those looking to contest the election as rebels.

With around two months left for the 11th national polls, the ruling Awami League is yet to finalise decisions on many key issues, including whether it will join the election under the 14-party or the grand alliance.

With multiple MP hopefuls in each constituency of Khulna division, the Awami League may have to deal with a serious problem of possible rebel candidates, while the BNP is in a better position with fewer MP hopefuls.

After a brief pause in the efforts towards “greater unity”, the BNP and other political parties involved will begin to sit from today to give it a concrete shape.

Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland has urged BNP to participate in the coming national election.

With potential rivals in the upcoming elections trying to form bigger alliances and unity, the Awami League has started working on its backup plan of expanding the 14-party combine.

Transparency International Bangladesh yesterday said there was a wide gap between what political parties pledged in their election manifestos and what they actually did.

A three-member BNP delegation is likely to visit EU headquarters in Brussels within a month to talk about the country's upcoming general election, party insiders said.

The BNP high-command has given “green signal” to at least 100 candidates to contest the upcoming parliamentary polls, party leaders said.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) will deploy as much force as possible to maintain law and order across the country during the upcoming national elections, the director general of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) says.