Most of the political parties have taken their electioneering to digital platforms, apart from the traditional style of campaigning, to reach out to as many voters as they can ahead of the 11th parliamentary election.
The contesting parties are largely using social media as their key digital tool to carry out campaigns to get attention of relatively younger voters.
According to the Election Commission (EC), there are around 104.19 million voters in the country of which 23.50 million are new, registered since 2008 and mostly aged between 18 and 30 years.
Political commentators said the young voters, especially those who will vote for the first time, might make big difference in the election results.
Many of the contesting parties are actively posting and sharing various election-related contents like photos, posters, slogans, videos and news on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
From the official Facebook page, ruling Awami League is conducting electioneering giving focus on the achievements of the government, country's economic growth, mega development projects, technological advancement, electricity generation, and promises made in the party manifesto.
Afroza Abbas, BNP candidate for Dhaka-9 constituency, is posting news and photos of campaigning in different parts of her constituency.
A campaigner of Mrs Abbas, Abdullah Al Mamun, told the FE, "We're facing obstacles from the ruling party goons in the field, while it is somewhat simple and cost-effective to disseminate the news of campaign online."
Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for ICT Division, is contesting for Natore-3 constituency. He posted a 10-second video footage seeking vote that states 'Vote for boat to go towards the path of prosperity'.
JOF, from its official page, sought vote in favour of its candidates saying 'Vote for JOF candidates to get back your human and civic rights'.
The platform is consisted of five parties - BNP, Gono Forum, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), Krishak Sramik Janata League (KSJL) and Nagorik Oikya are also posting various news contents of respective parties.
Zonayed Saki, a candidate of Left Democratic Alliance, competing in Dhaka-12 with the symbol 'Spade', posted a video footage seeking vote, titled 'Fearless Bangladesh and establishing effective democracy' on a Facebook page named 'Agamir Dhaka'.
Awami League sources said apart from social media, the party is broadcasting some paid advertisements on different television channels to every corner of the country with election campaign like many countries across the world.
Talking to the FE about electioneering through social media, Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Sujan) secretary Dr Badiul Alam Majumder said there is no regulation in the country about election campaign via digital platforms or social media.
"Candidates and parties are spending money on social media to propagate their news and views which should be included as electoral expenditure by the Election Commission (EC)," he said.
But there have not been taken any initiatives in this regard, he added.
Referring to social media related controversies of 2016 presidential election of United States (US), the election expert said, "It was observed that the US presidential election was interfered by Russia through social media propaganda."
Bangladesh is also at risk of spreading rumour and fake news ahead of the national election, Mr Majumder said.
EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed on December 2 said the commission, alongside different government agencies, will monitor the social media to check fake news and propaganda during the polls.
"If anyone conducts propaganda in the social media, legal action will be taken as per the Digital Security Act and other existing laws," he told the journalists after a meeting at EC secretariat.
Digital marketing is getting popular with wider penetration into social media by the country's people.
Many of the candidates have hired digital marketers and PR agents to propagate their news, an official of a PR agency told the FE.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) data shows total number of internet subscribers in the country stood at 92.5 million at the end of October, 2018.
Facebook secures 92.55 per cent of users of social media as of November 2018 while YouTube 4.69 per cent, Twitter 1.07 per cent, Pinterest 0.93 per cent, Instagram 0.35 per cent and reddit 0.13 per cent, according to StatCounter, a web traffic analysis platform.
As per Internet World Stats, a website that features global internet usage, social media statistics and internet market research data, there are around 28 million Facebook users in Bangladesh as of December, 2017.
Out of the 39 political parties registered by the Election Commission, only Awami League and BNP have verified Facebook pages.
Around 2.5 million Facebook users follow Awami League's official Facebook page while the number is 0.9 million for BNP.
Meanwhile, Islami Andolan Bangladesh has a follower base of 705,851, newly formed JOF 265,911 and Jatiya Party (Ershad) 24,398.
