The country's main opposition party announced a boycott of the elections, which were preceded by violence across the country.
Voting will begin at eight in the morning (0200 GMT) and end at four in the evening (1000 GMT). Vote counting is scheduled to begin shortly after voting ends, and preliminary results are expected early Monday morning.
Rights groups say that the country with a population of 170 million people is heading towards effective one-party rule after the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and some smaller parties allied with it, boycotted these elections.
The United States and Western countries, which are among the most important customers of the Bangladeshi garment industry, called for free and fair elections. Bangladesh has previously held elections 11 times since its independence in 1971.
About 120 million voters will choose from nearly 2,000 candidates to fill 300 directly elected parliamentary seats. The number of independent candidates is 436, the largest number since 2001.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party says that the Awami League is supporting fictitious independent candidates in these elections to try to make the elections appear credible, which the ruling party denies.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which also boycotted the 2014 elections but participated in 2018, asked voters to boycott voting and called for a two-day nationwide strike starting Saturday.
Sheikh Hasina, who rejected the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's demands to step down and hand over power to a neutral party that would manage the elections, accuses the opposition of inciting the anti-government protests that have rocked Dhaka since late October and led to the killing of at least 14 people.
Violence broke out on the eve of the elections, including a fire that broke out on a passenger train, killing at least four, and the government described it as intentional. A number of polling centers and institutions were also set on fire across the country.
Security forces were deployed across Bangladesh to maintain order, while about 800,000 police, paramilitary forces and police assistants will guard the polling stations on Sunday.
Over the past 15 years, Sheikh Hasina (76 years old) has been credited with transforming Bangladesh's economy and clothing industry. But her critics also accused her of tyranny, violating human rights, and suppressing freedom of expression and opposition.
Her main rival, Khaleda Zia, a two-time prime minister and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is effectively under house arrest on corruption charges that the opposition says are fabricated.
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