In addition to the deaths, eight were injured when the fire spread to four compartments of the Dhaka-bound Benapole Express around 9pm local time yesterday.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), boycotting for the second time in three elections, calls the polls a ploy by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League to legitimise a sham vote that will deliver her party a fourth straight term.

Hasina, refusing BNP’s demands to resign and cede power to a neutral authority to run the election, accuses the opposition party of instigating anti-government protests that have rocked Dhaka since late October and killed at least 10 people in the South Asian country.

Last month, protesters set a train ablaze, killing four people during a countrywide strike called by the opposition.

Senior BNP official Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said yesterday’s incident on the Benapole Express was “undoubtedly an act of sabotage and cruelty against humanity”, blaming the ruling party for it.

Awami League party leaders were not immediately available for comment.

The train fire in Dhaka’s Wari area was brought under control by seven firefighting units after about an hour, fire service official Shahjahan Sikder said.

“Investigation is underway, but it seems the train was deliberately set on fire,” said railway police official Ferdous Ahmed.

An official at the Wari police station said police suspected “sabotage” and would be able to confirm the cause of the fire only after the investigation.

The BNP has asked citizens to shun the poll and called a two-day strike in the country from today.

About 800,000 police, paramilitary, and police auxiliaries are to guard polling booths tomorrow. Officials of the army, navy, and air force have also been deployed across the country to maintain peace.