The BNP has announced a 48-hour hartal from Saturday morning in protest of the 12th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) polls.

The opposition party and its allies will observe the hartal programme from Saturday 6:00am to Monday 6:00am, BNP Senior Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced in a virtual press briefing today (4 January).

The 12th JS polls is slated for Sunday (7 January). The BNP has boycotted the elections.

Earlier on the day, the opposition party also announced a countrywide processions and mass contact campaigns on Friday.

Rizvi on the day called for boycotting the upcoming national elections for public interest.

"Boycott the election for public interest, for civil liberties and in the interest of basic freedom of the people," he said after distributing leaflets calling on people to boycott the elections and join BNP's non-cooperation movement in front of Uttara Rajuk Model College.

"Don't push the country towards danger by forcing dummy and one-sided elections," he urged the government.

The BNP leader also said, "Power cannot be retained by cheating the people in this way."

On Monday (1 January), BNP announced its plans to continue its ongoing mass campaign and leaflet distribution for three more days until 4 January as part of its boycott and non-cooperation movement ahead of the general elections.