Few races in the Dhaka metropolitan area have heated up, but candidates are nevertheless leaving nothing to chance.

Throughout the day and night, megaphones, loudspeakers, and LED monitors in the city blare loudly, trying to arrest the attention of local voters. But residents in many areas say they are mostly annoyed.

The aggressive campaign of slogans, election songs, and gung-ho promotion has added even more noise pollution to the city’s already clamorous soundscape. In some cases, it even breached the electoral code of conduct.

According to the rules, megaphones can only be used for campaigning between 2pm and 8pm.

But the Dhaka-10 and Dhaka-13 seats in the Mohammadpur and Dhanmondi areas were subject to persistent megaphone campaigning throughout Tuesday and Wednesday.

The ‘election camps’ blared music at all hours and the large LED monitors flashing campaign ads were rarely muted. The day and night auditory assault was exhausting to local residents.

They say campaign workers persisted in proselytising from early morning to late into the night.

Only a single campaign worker was on duty at 11am on Tuesday at the ‘election camp’ set up for the Awami League candidate on Shekhertek Road 12. But they were playing music loudly before the appointed hour.

Asked whether they knew it was a violation of the code of conduct, they replied they did not.

Locals said that the campaign push began around 10am in Shekhertek, its nearby roads and alleys, and the Adabor area. Rickshaws blasting slogans were seen on the streets past 10pm.

Several election camps in Adabor were trumpeting music around noon that same day. The Ring Road and Town Hall areas were teeming with campaign efforts by 1 pm.

A large monitor was placed in front of Mohmmadpur’s Tokyo Square on Dec 18, at the start of election campaigning. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the campaign ads for the ruling party’s candidate were playing well past 10 pm.

Locals said it has been a regular occurrence since the start of campaigning.

“We hear booming music and loud campaigning at intermittent times throughout the whole day,” an Adabor resident said. “Residents have started closing their windows for most of the day to save themselves from the noise pollution. But traders have it worse.”

The resident, who runs a store in the Shekhertek Road 10 area said, “It’s difficult to spend a long time working at the store due to the screeching.”