Hours before Jatiya Oikyafront's maiden rally on Registrar's office ground in Bandarbazar area, ruling Awami League men from across the city started gathering in processions at Court Point, around 100 feet away from Oikyafront's venue.

Three ruling party men, including a union level Jubo League leader, have been traceless since they were whisked away in a microbus in Narayanganj's Rupganj upazila yesterday afternoon, their family members said.

Cracks have surfaced within the Hefajat-e Islam over a proposed public reception to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, prompting the Islamist group's senior nayeb-e-ameer Mohibullah Babunagari to resign.

Jatiya Oikyafront, the newly-floated alliance of the BNP and several other parties, holds it first-ever rally today in Sylhet amid hurdles and uncertainty over its next programmes.

Among the 19 constituencies in Sylhet division, Sylhet-1 has always been the general election bellwether for parties. Every party that had won this constituency since the restoration of democracy in 1991, went on to form the government.

Nearly 21 months ago, a judicial enquiry conducted by the then chief metropolitan magistrate of Dhaka found Jatiya Party lawmaker Salim Osman's involvement in the assault on Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, headmaster of a school in Narayanganj.

Welcoming the formation of Jatiya Oikyafront, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said Awami League was not worried about it at all.

Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain has said he does not have any desire to run for election or hold any public office.

Barrister Mainul Hosein was arrested last night from JSD (Rab) chief ASM Abdur Rab's Uttara residence in a defamation case filed with a Rangpur court.

The Awami League high command is worried as almost all the 300 constituencies have four to five party leaders each vigorously campaigning for nominations in the parliamentary polls, according to AL insiders.

The hope that the party may win the election if it is held in a free and fair manner has spurred a large number of BNP leaders to emerge as MP aspirants.

Three of the four youths found shot dead in Narayanganj on Sunday morning were picked up by detectives from the district's Gausia the previous day, family members claimed after identifying them at a local hospital yesterday.

Jatiya Oikyafront leaders are preparing to organise a huge gathering at its rally in Sylhet tomorrow to drum up public support in favour of their seven-point demand.

Four bullet-hit bodies were found in Narayanganj while two decomposed bodies were recovered from a field in the capital's Uttara area yesterday.

The Election Commission yesterday rejected a proposal for amending the electoral code of conduct so that people in managing committees of educational institutions cannot run in the general election.

A court in Chattogram yesterday sent BNP Standing Committee Member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury to jail in a case filed under the ICT and Special Powers acts.

Bangladesh justified their 'favourites' tag coming into the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe by winning the first match by 28 runs under the floodlights at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday. It however needed Imrul Kayes to strike a career-best 144 to rescue the home side from a precarious position in the afternoon.

Police finally gave permission to the newly formed Jatiya Oikyafront to hold a rally in Sylhet on Wednesday.

The government yesterday launched the “Mathematical Olympiad method”, a project to help teachers make mathematics a fun subject for students, at an inception workshop held at the auditorium of the Directorate of Primary Education in the capital.

In their manifestos for the next national polls, the Awami League wants to focus on the government's "success stories" while the BNP on its “goal to restore democracy", insiders say.