People will have to take to the streets, the way they did on August 5, to realise their voting rights, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told a gathering in Thakurgaon yesterday.

Barring people from voting or forcing them to exercise their franchise are violations of human rights, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Kamal Uddin Ahmed said today.

Men banned women from voting in the village of Mohri Pur sometime around 1947, and they have obeyed ever since -- until this year, when changes to Pakistan's election laws and women's attitudes could shift the dynamic.

The Indian government will place a bill in parliament to amend electoral laws to give voting rights to people who became citizens of the country following the recent exchange of enclaves with Bangladesh.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday alleged that the government snatched people's votes in Wednesday's municipal polls by using the administration, law enforcers and presiding officers.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia congratulates people on New Year Eve and calls upon all to get united to work for restoring the ‘lost democracy and voting rights’.