The elections to Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) were marred by allegations of technical difficulties, human interference in voters' choice and poor technical know-how about electronic voting machines (EVMs).
For the first time, EVMs were used in all polling centres of the city corporation elections held on Saturday despite reservations of opposition political parties and experts and confusion among many voters.
However, ruling Awami League, its political allies and the Election Commission defended the use of EVMs.
There was widespread allegation that voters were forced to cast their votes for the ruling party-backed candidates.
Besides, a good number of voters failed to cast their votes due to mismatch between their fingerprints and EVMs.
Hyder Ali, a voter, could not exercise his voting right at South Point School centre as his fingerprint didn't match with EVM.
The presiding officer concerned requested Mr Ali to wait until the technician looked into the matter when he drew his (presiding officer) attention.
"Despite having my name on the voter list, the polling officer has not allowed me to cast my vote as they told me that my fingerprints haven't matched with the machine," he said.
He was waiting to cast his vote until 2:45 pm while this correspondent leaving the centre.
Another presiding officer at Khilgaon Model College centre said they faced technical glitches before the beginning of voting. Later, they had to replace this EVM with another.
A voter named Shahjahan Khan faced similar 'mismatch problem' at Wordbridge School centre in Dhanmondi.
As an assistant presiding officer requested him, the voter waited for one and a half hours and left the centre without casting his vote.
"I came from Uttara only to cast vote, but couldn't," he told this correspondent.
During visit to around 20 polling centres, the FE correspondent found various anomalies in the EVM system.
The ruling party activists were present at all centres and forced voters to cast votes as per their choice.
A number of political leaders including Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain also faced difficulties when they went for voting. The EVM through which Dr Kamal was trying to cast his vote at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College polling centre failed to read his fingerprint and match the data preserved in it.
He, however, managed to cast his vote after 30 minutes when assistant presiding officer Kawsar-E-Jahan intervened and used Dr Kamal's NID card to help him complete the voting process.
The chief election commissioner himself faced problem when he went to cast his vote as the EVM failed to read his fingerprint.
Afterwards, he cast his vote manually, punching in his national identity (NID) card's number around 11am at IES School and College polling centre at Uttara Sector-5.
The Election Commission first used EVMs in the Cumilla City Corporation polls in 2012. During the 2015 Rajshahi City Corporation election, some machines stopped working, prompting the EC not to use them further. Instead, the EC took up an around Tk 40 billion project to buy new EVMs.
In the December 30, 2018 parliamentary polls, the EC used EVMs in six constituencies, including Dhaka-6.
During the commission's dialogues ahead of the general election, 35 out of 40 registered parties, including BNP and its allies, opposed the idea of EVM use.
The rest five-the ruling Awami League, its allies Workers Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal faction led by Hasanul Haq Inu and Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal (M-L) and Zaker Party-supported EVM use.
After the December 2018 general polls, new EVMs were used in some polling stations in different city corporation elections, by-polls and upazila polls.
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