STORY: Voting begins for Bangladesh's general elections
SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 7, 2024
DATELINE: Jan. 7, 2024
LENGTH: 0:01:51
LOCATION: Dhaka
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of agents helping voters providing information at a help desk in front of a polling station in Dhaka, Bangladesh
2. various of polling station in Dhaka, Bangladesh
3. various of people casting votes at a polling station in Dhaka, Bangladesh
4. various of foreign election observers and Bangladesh Election Commissioner visiting a polling station in Dhaka, Bangladesh
5. various of Members of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) patrolling outside polling station in Dhaka, Bangladesh

STORYLINE:

Nationwide voting opened Sunday morning in Bangladesh's general elections to elect hundreds of representatives to parliament.
   
The voting started at 8:00 a.m. local time at over 42,000 polling centers nationwide and continued without any break until 4:00 p.m. local time.
   
According to the Election Commission, a total of 1,970 candidates are contesting for 299 out of the 300 directly-elected parliamentary constituencies. The election to one of the 300 seats will be held later because of the death of an independent candidate.
   
Meanwhile, the candidates include 1,534 from political parties and 436 independents.
   
There are nearly 120 million registered voters in the South Asian country. The counting of votes will be done on the spot soon after the voting is concluded.
   
In order to facilitate the voting process, a public holiday has been declared across the country.
   
In Bangladesh, a party can only form the government if it manages to clinch 151 seats in total.
   
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is seeking a fourth consecutive term in the country of 170 million population.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Dhaka.
(XHTV)