Every election comes with promises of discipline. Rules are announced; warnings are issued, then the city is wrapped in banners. Posters appear on walls, faces multiply overnight, and the election code of conduct becomes optional.
The election code of conduct is clear. No posters, no banners that dominate public space and no campaign material that endangers lives or distorts fairness. Yet, as the election is just a day away, Dhaka tells a different story.
Walk through any busy intersection at Farmgate, Shahbagh, Mirpur or Jatrabari; walls are layered with colour, electric poles wear smiling faces, footpaths become message boards. Posters are officially banned completely. But they never really left.
Various-sized posters are pasted on walls and pillars. Some are distributed by hand at intersections. Some are printed like cards, easy to slip into a hand and easier to scatter across streets. By morning, they cover shops, boundary walls, streets and market entrances. The excuse is familiar, “They are small and temporary.”
Banners are much louder. They stretch across roads, hang from buildings, tie themselves to electric lines with bright colours, huge faces and bold slogans. Most are far larger than allowed limits. The Election Commission announces rules every time. Political parties promise compliance, but enforcement remains weak. These are not isolated violations. They are organised, placed strategically and repeated across neighbourhoods.
Banners are barely removed as a sustained effort. Shop owners peel posters from shutters every morning. Students walk past walls they never recognise anymore. The city feels occupied. Commuters lose safety and visibility and the election loses dignity.
Campaigns are meant to be about ideas, debates and promises, not about who can flood the city faster with faces and colours. This is not just about aesthetics; it is about fairness. When one candidate floods the area with visuals, pressure builds on others, and silence loses to noise.
The code of conduct exists to protect equal ground, public spaces and citizens. But when violations become normal, rules lose meaning. Elections shouldn’t be about who can print bigger banners or scatter more posters.
Until enforcement becomes firm and equal, the city will continue to wear election colours, and the rules will remain, once again, invisible.
