Bangladesh's main opposition leader is calling for new elections as she and thousands of her supporters travel across the country.

The head of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Khaleda Zia, set off from her office in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday en route to the northwestern city of Chapainawabganj.

The former prime minister is leading a convoy of supporters who are demanding that the next general election be held under a non-partisan caretaker government. Ms. Zia is also accusing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government of corruption.

The Bangladeshi parliament approved a constitutional amendment earlier this year that scrapped a system of holding national elections under a non-partisan caretaker government. Lawmakers from Prime Minister Hasina's ruling Awami League party approved the change in a vote boycotted by the Bangladeshi Nationalist Party.

Opposition members accuse Ms. Hasina of amending the constitution to keep her party in power through fraud, rather than allowing non-partisan technocrats to oversee elections.

Politics in Bangladesh has been dominated for two decades by a violent rivalry between Ms. Zia and Ms. Hasina, who have often traded corruption charges and organized massive protests when in opposition.