AL poised for fourth straight poll sweep

Awami League was poised for a fourth straight poll sweep as the ruling party secured 133 seats until 10:30pm in Bangladesh's 300-seat parliament in the general election held Sunday amid main opposition boycott.

The parliamentary opposition party in the outgoing parliament, the Jatiya Party, ended up with only 8 seats while independents-in a new poll phenomenon-reigned with 33 as per latest available results when The Financial Express went to press.

Jatiya Party chairman GM Quader, secretary-general Mujibul Haq Chunnu, ex-SG Ruhul Amin Howlader and Anisul Islam Mahmood are the party heavyweights among those who returned from the party.

Awami League-led 14-party alliance heavyweight Hasanul Haq Inu of JSD lost the battle despite having the AL Boat as symbol. Rushed Khan Menon of Worker Party who also contested with the Boat, however, won the race, but his party secretary Fazley Hossain Badsha with the AL symbol lost.

Firsthand reports say excepting some isolated incidents, the much-talked about 12th national election ended almost peacefully on a low voter turnout in the capital and elsewhere.

According to final Election Commission (EC) statistics, the overall turnout of voters in the parliamentary polls was estimated to be around 40 per cent although the casting was estimated at 27.15 per cent one hour before the voting concluded at 4:00pm.

If the voter turnout had been officially counted less than 40 per cent, it would have been be the second-lowest in the history of Bangladesh as the lowest ever was recorded only 26.74 per cent in the controversial February 1996 polls.

Polling officers and agents said the nationwide hartal and boycott of the elections by the major opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and allies triggered tension among many that caused low turnout of voters in the general election.

As expected from the ambiance of the election, the ruling Awami League, headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, looked to be in a sweep towards a landslide victory once again in the election as their archrival, BNP, boycotted the election. Till the filing of the report, partial results from different centres showed AL candidates winning or leading in most of the seats they are contesting.

The FE correspondents visited a number of polling stations in Dhanmondi, Tejgaon, Mohammadpur, Rayerbazar, Keraniganj, Rampura, Khilgaon, Mohakhali, and Nawabganj of Dhaka and Sirajdikhan in Munshiganj where low presence of voters was found.

Even in most of the polling stations, polling agents of other candidates apart from Awami League-nominated aspirants was not found on spot visit to polling centres.

The presiding officer at a polling station at Purba Rampura High School under Dhaka-11 constituency Naim-uz-Zaman said the presence of voters was comparatively low this time.

"It is 12 noon but the voter turnout is less than 10 per cent. We hope people will come to exercise their voting right after the luncheon period," he said.

The situation was almost same in other nearby stations like Star Hatekhori School, Amber Preparatory School and Knowledge Syndicate School, Malibagh Chowdhypara Government Primary School and the South Point School polling centre.

During visit to the South Point School polling centre in City's Chowdhurypara area under his Dhaka-11 constituency, AL candidate MD Wakil Uddin termed the voting environment 'satisfactory'.

"I have already visited about 20 centres under my constituency. I have seen people casting their vote peacefully," Mr. Wakil told the FE.

He, however, acknowledged that voter turnout in the early hours was low due to some factors, including the prevailing chilling weather.

On the other hand, presiding officer at the centre Mahfuzul Islam informed the FE that 327 or nearly 12 per cent of the total 2,727 votes were cast until 2:0pm on the day.

Visits to Tejgaon Government Girls' High School under Dhaka-12 constituency revealed that voter turnout was very limited at around 10.30am. However, a crowd-comprising mostly representatives of candidates-- was seen outside the school that hosted five polling centres.

The presiding officer of one centre there, Saiful Islam, said because of a winter morning, the voter turnout remained limited, which was expected to increase later on.

Polling official at one booth of the same centre said 28 votes out of total 467 were cast as of 10.30am.

Much the same situation was found in Government Titumir College centre under Dhaka-17 constituency, Ideal School and College, Motijheel polling centre under Dhaka-8 constituency, at Kamalapur BRTC Bus Terminal polling centre under Dhaka-8, Nobendra Basak Lane Government Primary School under Dhaka-5, at Dakpara Government Primary School pooling centre, Keraninganj under Dhaka-3, at Konakhola Model Government Primary School, Keraniganj under Dhaka-2 and Goalkhali Government Primary School under Sirajdikhan upazila under Munshiganj-1 and Daulatkhli Government Primary School under Nababganj under Dhaka-1 constituency.

However, polling agents of all candidates were not seen present at the respective booths except that of Bangladesh Awami League.

Shortly after the polling hours were over, Chief Election Commissioner Habibul Awal said they had worked relentlessly to hold a transparent and credible election. "People will determine whether we have been successful or not."

Hailing people for casting their vote amid hartal called by a group of election-boycotting political parties, including the BNP, the CEC said the election was free and fair bar some isolated incidents.

"The voter turnout might reach nearly 40 per cent, but it is not confirmed. It will be known after the counting of the votes is over," he said.

However, one hour before the CEC statement about the figure of voter presence, the election commission officially had revealed the turnout at 27.15 per cent till 3:00pm. In the last election held in 2018-marred by allegations of ballot stuffing-- the voter turnout was recorded 80.41 per cent.

There were sporadic incidents of violence and rigging in some parts of the country. Candidacy of ruling Awami League candidate Mostafizur Rahman in Chittagong-16 constituency was cancelled by the EC moments before ending the polls for violating election code of conduct.

More than 27 candidates in different constituencies across the country boycotted the 12th national election, alleging rigging and irregularities. There were sporadic incidents of violence and rigging in some parts of the country that left one person dead and many others wounded.

A supporter of Awami League candidate Mrinal Kanti Das of Munshiganj-3 constituency was hacked to death allegedly by the followers of party's independent candidate Md Faisal Biplab near a polling centre in Tangore area of Mirkadim municipality under Munshiganj Sadar upazila in the morning.

The deceased was identified as Zillur Rahman, aged around 40, and the incident occurred at about 9:45am, said Munshiganj Sadar police officer-in-charge Amirul Islam.

Members of law-enforcement agencies arrested Rajshahi City Corporation panel mayor Nizam ul Azim early Sunday allegedly for forcing Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) cardholders to cast vote for a particular candidate.

Nizam, also No 21 ward councillor and local Awami League leader, was picked up from his residence in Sagarpara area in Rajshahi city. He was kept under the custody of Rapid Action Battalion, according to Rajshahi additional district magistrate Sabiha Sultana.

Unidentified miscreants hurled a crude bomb at a polling centre in Jashore-3 constituency at about 7:15am at Shankarpur Secondary School polling centre in the constituency.

Assistant Platoon Commander of Bangladesh Ansar, Maruf Hossain, who was in charge of the polling-centre security, was injured in the explosion.

Police arrested a young man, Shahin, for attempting to set fire to a polling station after exploding crude bombs in Fatullah of Narayanganj district on Saturday night.

Nure Azam, officer-in-charge of Fatullah Model Police Station, said a group of miscreants stormed into the Eshayatus Sunnah Qawmi Madrassah in Narsinghpur at about 10:30 pm and set off some crude bombs.

According to the EC statistics, it has found reports of irregularities from 140 polling stations across the country and arrested 42 people for their alleged involvement in such irregularities.

On the other hand, voting in 21 centres of nine constituencies was suspended by the commission and some 20 people were punished by the executive magistrates for vitiating congenial voting atmosphere in such incidents.

Earlier, voting took place in 42,024 polling centres, covered under security blanket amid the 48-hour-long hartal called by BNP from Saturday with a call for the people not to turn up at the booths.

The election drew huge attention from the international community as the United States and its western allies have also been vocal for long to see a free and fair election in the country on the heels of allegations of manipulation and rigging in the previous elections--in much the same vein as the political opposition here.

"The huge turnout of the spontaneous voters proved that the people rejected BNP call to boycott the polls", AL general secretary Obaidul Quader said after casting vote at his home constituency in Noakhali.

The BNP and its allies said that the government "staged a show of mockery in the name of election".

"The people have boycotted this 'managed' election," BNP standing committee member Dr Moeen Khan told the media.

The BNP, led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who has long been in imprisonment and internment, is boycotting the polls as the government denied their demand for holding the elections under a caretaker government.

This time, voting for the 300-seat parliament took place in 299 constituencies as polling was postponed in Naogaon-2 constituency due to the death of an independent candidate.

A total of 1970 aspirants from 27 parties and independent candidacies contested the election, of whom 266 belong to the ruling Awami League. The party has left 34 seats for its allies.

Around 750,000 security personnel were deployed across the country, of which 517143 are members of the Ansar Force, sources in the Election Commission said.

The election was observed by 127 international observers, the EC said, adding that 59 foreign journalists are given permission to cover the much-discussed election.

The number of voters eligible for voting is 119,691,633 of whom 58,919,202 are women and 852 transgender.

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected]