Every election season, Bangladesh brims with energy. Streets fill with colourful posters and political slogans. But along with the campaigning comes a loud and unwelcome guest, sound pollution. This year’s election has seen more noise than ever. Many people say it has become unbearable.
The Election Commission (EC) has clear rules about sound during campaigns. The code of conduct says loudspeakers and microphones can only be used between 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm, and the noise must stay below 60 decibels. A candidate may use no more than three loudspeakers at a time. These rules are designed to protect peace and public health.
There are also silent zones, areas around hospitals, schools, courts and important institutions where no campaign sound systems may operate at all. The law says violations can lead to fines, jail time, or even cancellation of a candidate’s nomination. But in practice, many of these rules are ignored.
In Dhaka and other cities, campaign vehicles roam through neighbourhoods with speakers blasting slogans and music from morning till late night. Some people report noise levels far above the legal 60‑decibel limit, sometimes reaching levels known to damage hearing.
For residents, this noise is more than a nuisance. Many wake up with headaches, babies cry, and students trying to study cannot concentrate. Sleep is disturbed, and some people say their stress levels have risen sharply. One Dhaka resident said his rest was shattered by loudspeakers after 8:00 pm, which is a clear violation, yet nobody seemed to enforce the rules.
Health experts warn that prolonged exposure to loud noise can cause hearing loss over time. High noise levels also trigger anxiety, raise blood pressure, disturb sleep cycles and increase stress hormones in the body. Continuous noise can make people feel on edge and exhausted. Though these risks are well documented, most campaigners pay little heed to them.
This raises a critical democratic dilemma. While the freedom to campaign is essential, should it overwhelm the fundamental rights of citizens to health and tranquillity?
The relentless noise often drowns out the substance of the messages, reducing politics to a contest of volume.
Elections are the festival of democracy. But no festival should inflict harm. The quest for votes is turning cities into zones of acoustic torture. The message is getting lost in the noise. As the pitches get higher, public patience wears thin.
It is time to lower the volume and raise the discourse. For a healthy democracy, we need quieter campaigns.
