The United States will send 12 teams of observers and fund thousands of domestic observers to monitor an election in Bangladesh it hopes will be free and fair, a senior official at the US Embassy in Dhaka said.

Amid opposition concerns about rigging in the December 30 general election, there has been speculation about US plans for it, especially after the European Union this week said it would not send observers, nor comment on the vote or result.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is seeking a third straight term.

Her old rival, Khaleda Zia, who leads the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is in jail after being convicted on charges she says were politically motivated. Scores of BNP workers have also been detained.

The BNP boycotted the last election, in 2014, as unfair, but has said it will take part this time, though it is seeking international monitors of polls it says it believes will be flawed.

The United States is sending a dozen teams, each of about two observers, who will fan out to most parts of the country, William Moeller, political officer at the US embassy in Dhaka, told Reuters.

“The Bangladesh government has emphasised that it plans to hold a free and fair election,” Moeller said this week.

“We welcome that and are providing funding for election observers who hope to see such an outcome.”

Moeller referred to reports of harassment and intimidation before recent city corporation elections, which he said may have suppressed voter turnout.

“We raised these concerns at the time, so we are hoping we won’t see the same issues in the national elections.”

The US National Democratic Institute said after an assessment in October the polls would be held “amid a high degree of political polarisation, heightened tensions and shrinking political space”.

The Bangkok-based Asian Network for Free Elections will send a team of about 30 short- and long-term observers, Moeller said.

About 15,000 Bangladeshi observers will be funded jointly by the US Agency for International Development, Britain’s Department for International Development and the Swiss government, he said.

The domestic observers would spread out but might not be able to reach every polling station, he said.

PLAYING DOWN WORRIES

Hasina and Khaleda have alternated in power over the last 28 years. Elections in Bangladesh are often violent and marred by ballot-stuffing and voter intimidation.

Hasina’s Awami League has held power since 2009 and dispensed from 2014 with a practice of letting a neutral caretaker government oversee elections, to the anger of the BNP.

The government has brushed off opposition fears of rigging.

“I don’t see any possibility this time, because all the parties are participating, and all of them will have their election agents,” said HT Imam, a political adviser to Hasina.

Bangladesh has seen steady economic growth under Hasina and the development of a vibrant garment sector under-pinning export growth, and accounting for 80 percent of the economy.

But rights groups have criticised increasing curbs on freedom of speech and the media.

Hope to capitalise on dissatisfaction, the BNP has formed an alliance with smaller parties called the National Unity Front and Hasina said this week she expected competitive polls.

The EU delegation in Dhaka said it was not sending observers because of growing demand for them amid tight resources.

India had no plan to send observers unless Bangladesh asked, an official at the Indian High Commission said.

Tara Mia finds it difficult to even move his right arm deformed since birth. A bit tall and scrawny, the man from Sunamganj's Jamalganj upazila uses his left hand to have meals.

Yet, he is one of the 52 people, who allegedly attacked police with machetes, hockey sticks and iron rods in Mallikpur Bazar area around 4:40pm on December 28, two days before the 11th parliamentary polls.

He was named as an accused in a case filed by police with Jamalganj Police Station two days later.

"How can I attack policemen when my right hand is almost unusable and even my left hand does not function properly," Tara Mia told this correspondent on the High Court premises yesterday.

"I don't do politics. I live on alms ... I'm worried about my family's survival," said the 45-year-old man who went to the HC to seek anticipatory bail in the case.

Tarikul Islam, assistant sub-inspector at Jamalganj Police Station, filed the case accusing 52 named and 70 to 80 unnamed people.

According to the case statement, the accused gathered unlawfully in Mallikpur Bazar area and brought out a procession in support of "sheaf of paddy" around 4:40pm on that day.

They blocked the road and attacked police, leaving at least five policemen, including the complainant, injured.

"I did not participate in any procession whatsoever, let alone attacking police," said Tara Mia.

He was anxiously pacing up and down the court premises.

The fear of arrest brought the man to the HC from Sunamganj on January 15. Since then, he has been staying either at the roadside or empty places as he cannot afford to rent a hotel room.

His wait for bail lingered as the court could not hear his petition yesterday due to time constraint.

Like him, around 600 to 700 people thronged the HC corridors yesterday, seeking bail in cases they claim to be false.

These cases were filed in weeks before the election, mostly against BNP leaders and supporters, allegedly for vandalising campaign offices of the ruling Awami League and its allies, or for planning subversive activities.

They came from Sunamganj, Jashore, Sylhet, Bogura, Narayanganj, Sherpur, Netrakona, Mymensingh and several other districts. Many of them came to the capital over a week ago to seek bail.

A few of them told this newspaper that the incidents happened but they were falsely implicated in the cases.

Several hundred people turned up on the HC premises every day for the last one week. Many of them got bail while others had to wait for hearing.

Yesterday, they were waiting in groups under trees. Some were standing while several others were seen lying on the grass. Anxiety and anger were writ on their faces.

Seventy-year old Mofazzal Hossain from Sherpur's Jhenaigati upazila is one of them. Weary, he was seen dozing off around 2:00pm under a tree on the court premises.

He did not even know the charges brought against him. He was an accused in a case filed with Jhenaigati Police Station.

"I am not involved in politics but I was implicated in a political case,” he said.

Yards away, Manik Mia, who was made an accused along with Tara Mia, was crying, holding another person.

"I am very poor ...  I earn a living by rearing ducks ... sometimes I work as a day labourer.

"They made me an accused, but I don't know how I will continue the case against me,” Manik said in a chocked voice.

"I took a loan of Tk 1,000 from a neighbour, but I have already spent most of it in the last few days," he said.

Asked about the case against Tara and Manik, the complainant, ASI Tarikul, said only those involved in the incident were made accused.

TS Ayub, president of Bagarpara upazila BNP in Jashore, is one of the over 1,000 BNP men, who were accused in at least eight cases filed a couple of days before the polls.

"We have been away from home much before the election. If we don't get bail, we will not be able to return home," he said.

The Daily Star could not independently verify their claims. But there have been media reports that “ghost” cases were filed before the election, and even dead men, people staying abroad and injured persons were made accused.

A couple of months ago, the police authorities ordered the unit chiefs to scrutinise how such cases were filed in different parts of the country in September and October.

For example, police in the capital filed 38 cases against several thousand leaders and activists of the BNP and its front organisations within 12 hours of the BNP rally on September 30 at Suhrawardy Udyan.

The Daily Star visited the 10 spots named as “place of occurrence” in the cases filed with Hazaribagh, Dhanmondi, Kalabagan, New Market, Kamrangirchar, Motijheel, Paltan, Shahbagh, Ramna and Jatrabari police.

This newspaper spoke with more than a dozen roadside vendors, shop owners and their employees and local residents around each of those spots. None of them could recall any incident of attack on police, vandalism or obstruction of police duty as claimed in the case statements.

Jatiya Oikyafront convener Dr Kamal Hossain today urged the diplomatic corps in Dhaka to manage the Awami League government to hold a fresh national election under a nonparty administration immediately.

Kamal Hossain also president of Gonoforum made the call while holding a closed-door meeting with diplomats from different countries at a hotel in Dhaka’s Gulshan area this afternoon.

The Oikyafront leader also placed allegations of irregularity and violence, took place in the December 30 national election, before the foreign diplomats during the meeting.

“We held a good discussion. We presented before them (diplomats) what happened in the election. They also witnessed the irregularities by themselves and they did not make any argument over it,” Kamal told reporters after the meeting.

Kamal said, “They asked us what we want and we told them that we can reach a peaceful solution if a fresh election is held and all people can vote freely.”

“We will work together and play a constructive role to build a bright future of the country if a fresh election is held,” Kamal said.

Diplomats from at least 30 countries including USA, UK, Canada, Russia and China were present at the meeting.

During the meeting, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also spoke about the “ruling party and police men’s indulgence in the acts of terrorism” ahead of the election.

The “evidence of the election violence” were projected before the diplomats through a power-point presentation during the meeting, meeting sources said.

Later, written copies of the allegations with “facts and evidence” were handed over the foreign diplomats, the said.

Stern actions will be taken against persons responsible for banking scams and the Bangladesh Bank will be given full autonomy to run the banking sector, Jatiya Oikyafront said in its manifesto.

Mahmudur Rahman Manna, convener of Nagorik Oikya and a leader of the Oikyafront, read out the manifesto in a press briefing at a hotel in Dhaka today.

Manna said corruption during the current government’s tenure will be investigated and the persons found involved will be brought to justice.

The Anti -Corruption Commission will be made truly independent, the alliance said in its election promises.

The provision to get prior government permission to arrest civil servants will be scrapped, Oikyafront leader Manna said.

He further said effective measures will be taken to stop flight of capital and money already laundered will be brought back.

No on-going projects will be cancelled but a committee will be formed to review the projects taken hurriedly in the last two years, he said.

Actions will be taken against share market scamsters, he added.

WHAT IS JATIYA OIKYAFRONT?

The Jatiya Oikyafront is an alliance of the BNP, Dr Kamal Hossain-led Jatiya Oikya Prokriya, ASM Abdur Rob’s Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, and Mahmudur Rahman Manna’s Nagorik Oikya.

The Oikyafront was formed on October 13 with the demands of a national election under a neutral government after dissolution of parliament and release of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia from jail.

WHAT ARE OIKYAFRONT’S AGENDAS?

Formed with major political oppositions to ruling alliance, the Oikyafront includes ruling Awami League’s arch opposition BNP.

Currently, they are campaigning with a seven-point charter including freedom for BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and election under a nonpartisan government.

WHAT ARE OIKYAFRONT’S DEMANDS?

The 11-point goal announced by the alliance includes ensuring checks and balances in the state power, decentralisation of administration, freeing MPs from the stringent restrictions imposed on them under article 70 of the constitution, formation of a constitutional commission to make appointments to all constitutional and other important posts and full independence of the judiciary.

The alliance also announced a seven-point demand, including the one for holding the next parliamentary election under a nonpartisan government, dissolution of parliament before the polls and reconstitution of the Election Commission.