Advances in Sciences and Humanities 2019; 5(5): 122-127 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ash doi: 10.11648/j.ash.20190505.12 ISSN: 2472-0941 (Print); ISSN: 2472-0984 (Online) Eleventh Parliamentary Election in Bangladesh: An Empirical Study Jannatul Mawa Moon Cultural Heritage & Bangladesh Studies, Rabindra University, Shahajadpur, Bangladesh Email address: To cite this article: Jannatul Mawa Moon. Eleventh Parliamentary Election in Bangladesh: An Empirical Study. Advances in Sciences and Humanities. Vol. 5, No. 5, 2019, pp. 122-127. doi: 10.11648/j.ash.20190505.12 Received: April 1, 2019; Accepted: August 20, 2019; Published: September 18, 2019 Abstract: The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of the government. This will be expressed in a periodic and transparent election which shall be by equal suffrage and held by secret vote. Through this, the pace of socio-economic and human development of a country is accelerated alongside the strengthening of the democratic process and Bangladesh is not so far from this process of democracy. To sustain the democratic process of Bangladesh it was a challenge for the ruling Awami League to conduct the 11 th parliamentary election under constitutional law because of the non-cooperation of the opposition. But Awami League overcame that challenges and it was a landslide win which was largely attributed to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s dynamic leadership, her humility and the people’s rejection of anti-liberation forces. Majority of the people of Bangladesh, with the spirit of liberation war, wanted to see “Sonar Bangla” a long-cherished dream of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and it was reflected in the results of election. Keywords: Democracy, Formation of Government, Election Commission, Election System, EMF, Father of the Nation 1. Introduction Electing people’s representatives through free, fair and neutral elections is one of the prime prerequisites for establishing good governance and democracy. Elections are a key way for citizens in a democracy to communicate with representatives. The people of Bangladesh reflect their opinions through casting ballots directly in the national and local government elections since its independence under the charismatic leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman, the father of the nation. From the very beginning of Bangladesh in 1973 the first parliamentary election was held and the presidential form of governments was also seen in the past. With the 13 th amendment of the constitution of Bangladesh, caretaker government was taken to hold a free fair election; but in parliamentary system caretaker government has no legal status that’s why it was abolished by the 15 th amendment of the constitution. The election system of Bangladesh has great diversity. Appropriate roles of the participating candidates along with the Election Commission, the administration assigned with election-related tasks and the ruling party is very important in holding these elections. Under the ruling party, the present government of Bangladesh is successful to hold a free fair and participatory 11 th parliamentary national election. 2. Political History of Bangladesh The emergence of Bangladesh as an independent and sovereign nation-state is a fact of recent history. This country had great historical development. Bangladesh has had a crucial past under approximately 200 years’ British domination and 25 years of Pakistani rule. In 1947 the subcontinent became independent from British colonial rule and on the basis of two nations theory India and Pakistan were emerged. The extreme torture, humiliation, exploitation, misrule by the West Pakistani rulers finally pushed East Pakistani people to get united and come out from the grips of West Pakistan and declare independence in 1971. A great political party Awami Muslim League was established on 23 June 1949, played a vital role in language movement as well as participated in fourth alliance party in the national pole in 1954 and succeeded. In 1956 ‘Awami Muslim League changed its name and named after Awami League. The great victory of Awami League in 1970’s the first general election on the basis of universal adult franchise tends the way of