Voting in city polls ends amid ‘rigging, violence’

The much-awaited elections in the three city corporations in Dhaka and Chittagong Tuesday passed off on a bit sombre note amid allegations of rigging that marred much of the pre-poll festive mood.
Alleging ouster of their polling agents, booth capturing and ballot stuffing, all the opposition BNP-backed candidates and some others announced their boycott of the polls halfway through the voting time in the Dhaka South, North and Chittagong City Corporations.
The Election Commission, however, said the constitutional body didn't receive any complaint or boycott in writing-and, hence, all the candidates legally remained in the race and their votes would be counted to determine the results.                
Some incidents of clashes, driving out polling agents of BNP-supported candidates from the stations and attacks on journalists were reported at a number of polling centres in Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) during the voting hours.
However, the voter turnout in the local-body elections was considerably low as a good number of city people refrained from going to the booths in fear of possible poll-related chaos, as the political mayhem of the immediate past possibly still haunts their psyche.
Observers and voters attributed such less-than-expected level of voter participation to the Election Commission's somersault over its decision regarding deployment of army for ensuring free and fair elections.
The city-dwellers went through the electoral fray from 8:00am through 1982 polling centres in the capital to elect mayors and councillors to DSCC and DNCC with a bunch of expectations that many of their long-lingering problems would be addressed by the would-be 'city fathers'.
"In the early hours of the balloting, voters at various centres were seen moving towards the polling stations to mark their ballots," says a firsthand account of the early scenes.
"But, after two hours of the run, the presence of the voters started thinning out following information of pulling out agents of BNP-backed mayoral candidates Tabith Awal and Mirza Abbas from the polling centres," it added.
Many of the voters were also seen leaving polling stations out of frustration after finding their votes already cast by someone else.
After a visit to Nayatola Government Primary School (Polling Station Number-1085) where election took place at five booths, the booths were found with no agents of Tabith Awal in.
When contacted, the assistant presiding officer of one booth said the agents of 'Bus', the symbol of Tabith, did not come to the station.
"I did not know the reason behind his/her disappearance. But we could not much wait for the polling agent as voting starts in time," he said.
"The booth-3 has a total of 324 votes and some 30 voters have so far cast their vote in the first 90 minutes (09:30am)," he added.
Seeking anonymity on security grounds, people in the locality alleged that agents of some candidates were forced to leave the premises of the centres by the supporters of some other candidates.
A group of 10-12 young men entered the Boro Maghbazar Primary School polling station at about 11:30am and forcibly cast vote in front of the assistant presiding officer, they said.
Within 15 minutes of the ballot stuffing, police rushed in and drove out the fake voters from the station.  
The assistant presiding officer kept mum when he was asked about the identity of the riggers, and resumed his tasks.
Same scenario was found at the centre of Government Teachers' Training College, close by Dhaka College, where active presence of vote riggers was also observed at noon.
Talking to the FE, Saidur Rahman Nayan, who came to cast his vote at the centre from Agargaon area, said he went to a polling booth with vote slip but was told by the booth-insiders that his vote had already been done. He was instructed to go home.
"I would not mind if the vote riggers informed me about it over phone. At least I could save Tk 100 that I spent in the form of rickshaw fares to reach the centre. It's a kind of voting that I have no interest in at all," he said.
Voters were also found being denied chance to cast their vote at Suritola Government Primary School on North South Road under the DSCC.
"I came to the polling station at about 8:30 am. But now it is about 12:00 noon. I could not cast my vote as the election officials did not allow us (voters) to cast our vote," Lutfur Rahman, a resident of the Lutfur Rahman Lane, told the FE on a note of frustration.
Md Uzzal Hossain, ASM Rabbi and Md Jahir Hossain echoed the same allegation.
"We stopped taking vote as we found ballot papers in damaged shape. We discussed the matter with the EC. The EC directed not to take vote," Md Shawkat, presiding officer of Suritola Government Primary School centre, told the journalists.  
Incidents of driving out polling agents of the BNP-backed candidates were also recorded at several polling stations in Jatrabari, Tikatuli, Motijheel and Paltan areas.
Voters also alleged that local "cadres" of the ruling party intercepted them from exercising their voting right at Jatrabari Power Development Board High School and Muradpur High School polling centres.
The situation turned for the worst at Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam College polling centre when two rival groups in the ruling party locked in clashes over taking control of the polling centre at noon.
Witnesses said the supporters of ward councillors Md Earu and Haji Md Selim chased each other with brickbats and sticks that forced the authorities to suspend vote casting for a while.  
The Bangladesh National Party (BNP) pulled out of the election race in Dhaka and Chittagong city corporations on allegations that the polls were "rigged, farcical and marked with irregularities".
BNP Standing Committee member Moudud Ahmed announced the decision at a media conference at the party's Naya Paltan headquarters several hours after voting started.
In a statement, the BNP-backed candidate in DNCC, Tabith Awal, said he decided to boycott the polls as the supporters of ruling party candidates and Chhatra League and Juba League men beat out his polling agents from the centres.
"Police arrested many of my polling agents. The EC appointed polling agents. Police, Rab and Awami League and Juba League followers jointly resisted my polling agents and voters in casting their votes," he added.
He said that he did not get any remedy even after submitting written complaints to the EC.
"Even the fax machine of the returning officer was intentionally made inoperative so that we could not send in our complaints to the EC. Under these circumstances, I boycotted the one-sided elections as there was no atmosphere for the voters to cast their votes," he added.  
Simultaneously, DNCC mayoral aspirant Zonayed Saki, DNCC Saifuddin Ahmed Milon, backed by Jatiya Party and DSCC mayoral candidate Golam Mawla Roni also boycotted the city polls, expressing disappointment over the voting process.
However, the ruling-party leaders came down heavily on the BNP decision to boycott the elections, saying that the party was trying to create a ploy for going for a fresh spell of agitation in the coming days.
Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif in an immediate reaction at the party's Dhanmondi office termed BNP's pullout decision from the mayoral race preplanned.
"Knowing their defeat was certain, BNP pulled out mayoral candidates from the race. They created this drama to find an issue for a fresh movement," Hanif said.
BNP did not produce any documents for any of the allegations, he added.
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