Protests continued on Tuesday across several districts, including Bagerhat, Faridpur and Pabna, against the boundaries of different parliamentary constituencies redrawn ahead of the next general elections.
Protests have erupted since the Election Commission gazetted the redrawn boundaries on September 4.
In Bagerhat, an all-party committee on Tuesday called a 48-hour general strike for today and tomorrow.
On Tuesday, demonstrations, rallies, human chains and blockades were staged in different districts as well as in Dhaka city, as voters and political leaders voiced anger over the redrawn boundaries, demanding that earlier demarcations must be restored.
In Bagerhat, the all-party united committee organised a protest march and rally over the demand.
Demonstrators accused the EC of reducing four constituencies to three and causing confusion by arbitrary alterations of boundaries.
The march began at Dashani traffic junction on the Bagerhat-Khulna highway and marched through different parts of the district town, ending in front of the deputy commissioner office.
At a roadside rally, political leaders, including former Bagerhat Bangladesh Nationalist Party president MA Salam, BNP central committee member Wahiduzzaman Dipu, district Jamaat-e-Islami amir Rezaul Karim, nayeb-e-amir Abdul Wadud and secretary Sheikh Mohammad Yunus, spoke, among others, calling on the EC to restore previous boundaries of the all four Bagerhat constituencies.聽
They also announced a 48-hour general strike for Wednesday and Thursday at the rally.
In Faridpur, local residents enforced a blockade on highways, paralysing road communications between Dhaka and at least 21 districts in the south-western region.
The blockade, begun early in the morning, brought all vehicular movement to a standstill.
Protesters blocked several points of the highway in Bhanga upazila with trees, bamboo and bricks, leaving traffic on two major highways paralysed for hours.
Residents of Hamirdi and Algi unions staged the protest against the EC鈥檚 decision to reassign their areas to Faridpur-2 constituency, taking them from Faridpur-4.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Brahmanbaria reported that Ashuganj upazila residents blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet highway on Tuesday to protest at the redrawing of parliamentary boundaries that moved two unions from Bijoynagar upazila into Brahmanbaria-2 (Sarail-Ashuganj) constituency.
The demonstration, organised under the banner of the all-party unity council, began around 11:00am at Ashuganj Chowrasta, halting traffic for several hours and causing around a five-kilometre-long jam.
Leaders from the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, National Citizen Party, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, and Gano Odhikar Parishad criticised the move, calling it a deliberate attempt to deny Ashuganj people the chance to elect their own representative.
Protesters demanded that Chandura and Budhanti unions be restored to Brahmanbaria-3 (Sadar-Bijoynagar) constituency, warning of further protest programmes, including rail, river and road blockades.
In Dhaka city, residents of Pabna-1 constituency staged a protest in front of the Election Commission headquarters, forming a human chain and demanding restoration of the previous boundary that included Santhia upazila and part of Bera upazila.
Several hundred demonstrators gathered in front of the EC headquarters building around 11:30am, chanting slogans rejecting the EC鈥檚 gazette and vowing to continue their protests until their demand was fulfilled.
Despite the growing protests, the EC has so far ruled out any possibility of altering the final delimitation.
Election commissioner Md Anwarul Islam Sarker on Sunday said that the process was carried out with the utmost caution, prudence and impartiality.
He said that under the delimitation act, no question can be raised in any court or before any authority regarding the commission鈥檚 proceedings, constituency formation, or any action taken under its authority.
The Election Commission on September 4 issued a gazette notification finalising the delimitation of 300 constituencies, bringing changes to the boundaries of 51 parliamentary seats across the country ahead of the 13th national elections, scheduled for early February 2026.
In the final delimitation, the number of constituencies in Gazipur increased from five to six, while Bagerhat鈥檚 decreased from four to three.
