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\u2022 Tens of thousands of supporters attend rival rallies across Dhaka
\u2022 Voters will elect lawmakers to a 350-seat parliament
\u2022 BNP, led by Khaleda Zia\u2019s son Tarique, widely seen as a frontrunner
\u2022 BNP\u2019s main rival is Jamaat-i-Islami, led by Shafiqur Rahman, allied with the student-led National Citizen Party<\/p>\n
DHAKA: Bangladesh\u2019s election campaign<\/a> entered its final day on Monday before this week\u2019s vote, with rival parties invoking the 2024 uprising that ended the autocratic rule of Sheikh Hasina.<\/p>\n Tens of thousands of flag-waving supporters attended a series of rival rallies across the sprawling capital Dhaka, as parties sought to harness the legacy of the mass uprising and pitch competing visions of change for the country of 170 million in Thursday\u2019s election.<\/p>\n The South Asian nation will elect a 350-seat parliament, with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) \u2014 led by Tarique Rahman, who returned<\/a> in December after 17 years in exile \u2014 widely tipped as a frontrunner.<\/p>\n The BNP\u2019s key rival is Jamaat-i-Islami, Bangladesh\u2019s largest Islamist party that is led by Shafiqur Rahman and has allied with the National Citizen Party (NCP) that was formed by student leaders who spearheaded the uprising.<\/p>\n Prime ministerial hopeful Tarique Rahman appeared confident as he bounced on stage to address a crowd of thousands of BNP loyalists who waved flags and the party symbol, a sheaf of rice, and greeted their leader as if at a rock concert.<\/p>\n \u201cThe BNP alone has a plan to run the country and the experience to do so,\u201d he said, referring to his late parents, Ziaur Rahman and Khaleda Zia, who both led the nation.<\/p>\n \u201cNo other parties have that.\u201d Rahman, 60, better known in Bangladesh as Tarique Zia, assumed leadership of the BNP from his mother, Khaleda Zia, who died in December at the age of 80.<\/p>\n Police ringed the stage as he spoke and watched from the tops of tower blocks surveying the crowd.<\/p>\n \u2018Justice\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Hasina was overthrown<\/a> on August 5, 2024, after 15 years in power and her Awami League party was banned by the interim government from running in the elections, a move criticised by rights groups.<\/p>\n