BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today cast his vote at the Thakurgaon Government High School polling centre.
The BNP leader cast his ballot around 8:30am for the Thakurgaon-1 constituency from where he is contesting.
Voting for the general elections began at 8:00am this morning all over the country and will continue till 4:00pm.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today cast his vote at the Thakurgaon Government High School polling centre.
The BNP leader cast his ballot around 8:30am for the Thakurgaon-1 constituency from where he is contesting.
Voting for the general elections began at 8:00am this morning all over the country and will continue till 4:00pm.
The first three hours were peaceful, even festive at times as people came in to cast their vote at the polling centres in the Lalmonirhat 3 constituency since early morning.
The presence of female voters was notable, all queuing up in front of polling centres around sadar upazila waiting for their turn.
Polling agents of BNP and Jatiya Party candidates Asadul Habib Dulu and Golam Mohammed Quader respectively were there.
But the scenario started changing radically from 11:00am as Awami League (AL) activists began to arrive. They started calling out to voters, telling them to leave while forcing out BNP agents. No BNP worker or leader returned fearing attacks.
In some centres even police carried out such acts, snatching voter lists from BNP agents.
A correspondent of The Daily Star was present in a polling centre set up inside Lalmonirhat Government High School.
The presiding officer there, Rakibuzzaman, had locked himself inside a classroom after suspending voting around 12:30pm while some 300-400 AL men clamoured inside the school.
A judicial magistrate arrived half an hour later and coaxed him out. A visibly shaken Rakibuzzaman informed that the voting boxes, stamps and ballot papers had been taken away by the AL men. The judicial magistrate then left.
“Voting has been suspended in consultation with the UNO (upazila nirbahi officer) as the situation here was tense,” Rakibuzzaman replied on request for a comment.
On what happened to the voting materials, he abruptly turned around and again locked himself inside the classroom.
By 1:00pm the scenario had turned grim in most of the upazila's 89 polling centres: either voting was suspended or they were occupied by the AL men.
A correspondent of The Daily Star witnessed a local AL leader, Sumon Khan, and his men take over the Khochabari Primary School centre around 11:00am. They forced all others out within half an hour.
Villagers of Kulaghat came rushing to the correspondent during a visit to inform that AL men wielding sticks had chased them away from a voting centre in the local high school. They said normalcy returned when the army arrived.
Villagers of Shakoa staged agitations on a road after police created panic by chasing away voters, some even to their doorsteps, from the Shakoa Taj Mahmud High School centre.
BNP's Rajpur union publication secretary, Tojammel Haque, 62, died in Rangpur Medical College Hospital around 2:00pm on suffering injuries during a clash between AL and BNP men at Paglarhat Government Primary School in the initial hours.
Voting at the centre was suspended for some time.
After Bangladesh's journey began on the path to becoming a modern democracy in 1991, many expected that electoral democracy would gain a strong footing gradually. But that hope and aspiration stumbled for the first slip at the infamous Magura-2 parliamentary by-polls on March 20, 1994. It became a symbol of a rigged election in the era of democracy, which seemed to have been restored after Ershad's autocratic regime came crashing down.
That by-election brought two issues to the fore: that a free and fair election was not possible under a partisan government, and that the Election Commission was not free at all under a political government. The by-polls helped the Awami League-led opposition parties of that time to intensify their campaign for the introduction of a non-partisan, election-time government.
In the face of a strong campaign launched by the opposition, a caretaker government provision was introduced in the constitution and, subsequently, four national elections were held under non-partisan caretaker governments. Those elections were, by and large, free from the controversy of vote-rigging and ballot-stuffing. But the caretaker government system was annulled from the constitution following a court verdict. And we saw a resumption of the old tactics of vote rigging, with polling centres being run over by party cadres, ousting of polling agents, stuffing and snatching of ballot boxes, and intimidation of voters.
Then came the two controversial national elections of 2014 and 2018. While the BNP boycotted the 2014 election, the 2018 election saw 153 ruling-party-aligned candidates elected uncontested amid widespread allegations of irregularities. There were allegations that ballot boxes were stuffed the night before the election, and the opposition camp lost the election even before voting had begun.
In recent times, we have also witnessed voter turnouts gradually declining, which is surely an ominous sign for democracy.
After around three decades, if we look back at that fateful by-election of Magura, we would realise that the situation has not changed much. It happened again at the Gaibandha-5 by-election. The issue of by-elections came into discussion once again when seven BNP lawmakers – the only BNP candidates who had managed to win in 2018 – resigned. After their resignation, the Election Commission announced the election schedule, and the ruling Awami League and the main opposition in parliament, the Jatiya Party, nominated their respective candidates. But the Brahmanbaria-2 by-poll stole the show as a former BNP leader (after having been expelled from his party), Ukil Abdus Sattar, contested the election as an independent candidate.
Sattar had been elected five times from the constituency and had been state minister as a technocrat. His loyalty to the party was unquestionable. Following an order from the party high command, he had resigned from parliament, but made a surprise turn-around as he decided to contest the by-election as an independent candidate, in turn getting himself expelled from the BNP. The belief held in his constituency is that Sattar is contesting the polls for two reasons – first, he was trapped by the government and second, out of fear that he would not get the party ticket for the next election as he is over 83 years old.
Another reason is that BNP leader Rumeen Farhana has a high probability of getting the party nomination in the next election from that constituency. For Sattar, his political future is almost ending. Many in the constituency have also said that it is actually Sattar's son who is trying to "make his future" through this by-election.
This particular by-election attracted further attention when all three ruling Awami League aspirants – it was open to anyone interested to run – withdrew their candidacy following the directions of party high-ups. It turned out to be a cakewalk for Sattar. On AL's part, it was presumably a good gesture to let a senior politician of the opposing camp have a last hurrah, since he is most likely at the twilight of a long and distinguished career. However, it is so rare that this incident is certain to go down in history as a very likely one-off where the ruling party favoured an opposition candidate.
The ruling Awami League has repeatedly said that the next election will be a free, fair, and inclusive one. BNP sent a strong message through the resignation of its lawmakers, saying that it was not making empty threats when saying that the party would not join any elections under the incumbent government. And Awami League appeared to have countered this with a tactic of sending a message to BNP aspirants, saying they might get an open field if they break away and run during the elections. Then, Awami League could claim the elections to be inclusive and also be certain of retaining office.
It is often said that in politics, there is no last word. Through Sattar's participation, the ruling Awami League will try to prove a few things, particularly that BNP's decision to resign from the parliament was wrong, and will send a message to BNP leaders and aspirants that they may have a chance in the next polls if they betray their party and create a few cracks in what has so far remained steadfast determination. It is perhaps BNP's biggest achievement of the last 15 years that the party remained intact, with none of its stalwarts breaking away. But Sattar's election may have an impact.
But one must wonder whether this move was indeed a good strategy for the ruling party. Is politics just a voting game? Should there not be moral or ideological practices in politics? After all, the one thing politicians must keep in mind is that once someone is labelled as a traitor, it hangs around their neck like the fabled albatross.
BNP had to rig the Magura by-polls in 1994 to back their claim that their popularity had not decreased. Three decades later, the AL took on a different strategy and let an independent candidate win to coax out aspirants from BNP's fold. In 1994, although BNP won the polls, it was defeated in politics. The Awami League might console itself with a self-congratulatory chuckle thanks to Sattar's victory. It might almost seem that the Awami League has manipulated a win in the first skirmish. But will such a stratagem or tactic win them the war?
Mohammad Al-Masum Molla is deputy chief reporter at The Daily Star.
The Election Commission touted the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) as a foolproof alternative to the traditional method of ballot paper, but that too fell prey to sweeping abuse yesterday.
Some 5,045 EVMs were deployed in 845 polling centres in six constituencies -- Dhaka-6 and -13, Chattogram 9, Rangpur 3, Khulna 2 and Satkhira 2 -- and the common complaint of voters was that their ballots were cast by someone else in their presence.
This was feared by majority of the registered parties, including the BNP and its allies, who said the deployment of the instrument would facilitate “the government's plan for election engineering”.
Voters are in a queue at Rayerbazar Community Centre in Dhaka city on Sunday, December 30, 2018. Photo: Sujit Sarker
Another problem with the new voting method used during the 11th general elections was that polling was halted for several hours at many booths for malfunctioning units.
In theory, the EVMs would be activated by the voter's smart card, voter number or national identification number.
The voter would then have to use his/her fingerprint for verification purpose and then proceed to cast vote on the balloting unit, which would be kept in a separate room.
As a result, the voting process would be immune to rigging. When the system worked as it was supposed to, the voting experience was quick and fuss-free, many said.
But what transpired for the most part yesterday was far from it: party activists preyed on voters, most of whom were unfamiliar with the workings of the EVM.
Take the case of Rahima Begum, a resident of CRB area under Kotwali Thana of Chattogram. She was eagerly looking forward to voting on the EVM, but her curiosity turned to despair at the polling booth.
A lady offered to guide her through the use of EVM. “She took my fingerprint and asked me to leave,” the 45-year-old told The Daily Star.
She was told her voting was completed, much to her bewilderment. “When I tried to know on which symbol the vote was cast, they simply told me to leave,” Rahima added.
Similar accounts were heard from Khulna-2 constituency, particularly from female voters.
An excited Shelly Begum arrived to cast her vote at Sher-e-Bangla Primary School but a young lady pressed the button to cast the vote on the EVM -- before Shelly could do it herself.
“I could not cast my vote because of that lady,” said an annoyed Shelly.
Sarmin Sultana had a similar experience when she went to vote around 1:00pm. Two women of Awami League tried to enter the voting room with her to guide her through the process.
But when she declined their help, they dragged her out of the centre.
When it was not the case of unwitting voters being exploited, it was the party activists themselves who proceeded to cast votes for absentee voters on the EVM with the help of presiding officers.
Our correspondent visited Wari Girls' Government Primary School at about 2:20pm and saw a young man giving voting numbers to the polling officer, who was inputting the numbers on the EVM one by one.
The voters' profiles were flashing on the screen -- and none of the photos that came up matched with the faces nearby. The young man was using his fingerprint to unlock the voting page for the numbers and understandably they would not match.
Then another man swooped in and used his fingerprint, which unlocked the voting page. Soon after, the correspondent saw that the screen was flashing the message: 'Your voting has been completed'.
When the fingerprints do not match on the EVM, the assistant presiding officers have the authority to unlock the system for 25 percent of the cases.
The correspondent then went to Sher-e-Bangla Balika Mahavidyalaya next, where he saw a similar sight.
In fact, it was more pronounced here: almost all the polling booths had someone else casting votes on behalf of others.
The correspondent approached the presiding officer Shahidur Rahman Khan in his cabin and informed him of the incidents. “I do not know anything of this nature,” he said.
Similar scenes of the system being gamed were seen at the voting centres of Dhaka-6.
At about 3:00pm at Kamrunnesa Government Girls High School, a lady was complaining at the top of her voice that her vote had already been cast. Agitated, she went to the presiding officer to inform of the foul play, but it came to no use.
The correspondent then went up to the polling officer, who seemed resigned to what was unfolding at venue. “There is nothing I can do about it,” he said, requesting anonymity.
Another correspondent arrived at the Sutrapur Community Centre 10 minutes before polls closed and found the venue buzzing with people.
Security forces came in and asked everyone except the polling agents to leave. A swarm of people rushed to leave the venue, and all were wearing badges of the Grand Alliance.
Asked about the large presence of people with no EC passes, the polling agent Fahad said: “It's because the EVM is complicated to use -- we had volunteers to guide them through the process.”
Over at Dhaka-13, voting was paused at six booths in five centres for two to six hours for malfunctioning EVMs. Those who arrived in that time frame had to leave without voting.
The Daily Star visited 17 centres in the constituency and found several machines were unable to read fingerprints.
At Mohammadpur Girls High School, a man complained that polling agents wearing 'Boat' badges were shadowing voters to the balloting room and intimidating them to cast their vote for Awami League.
Awami League candidate Sadek Khan was contesting against BNP's Abdus Salam and Jatiya Party's Shafiqul Islam for the seat.
Voting was still going on at the venue at around 4:15pm.
The assistant presiding officer was seen helping five youths unlock the voting system with his fingerprint. As a photographer tried to take a picture, a youth wearing the 'Boat' badge threatened her and told her to leave.
Over at Satkhira-2, EVMs in two booths of Mridanga and Rajnagar centres were not functioning from the onset. The devices were flown in by helicopter to Dhaka for repair. They were not returned to booths until 3:00pm, our correspondent reported.
A similar incident took place at Nurpur Government Primary School of Rangpur-3 constituency. After being repaired in Dhaka, the EVM was flown in to the venue at about 4:00pm, when voting started again and went on until 6:00pm.
But it was not all bad news: many voters quite enjoyed casting their votes with the EVM.
“It took all of three minutes to cast my vote,” said Mohammad Sohel, a 30-year-old voter after casting his vote at Suritola Model Government Primary School.
Just two buttons need to be pressed to cast one's vote, said Osama Rahman, a young voter.
“It's just so easy to use,” he added.
Delwar Hossain Khokon, a 40-year-old, waxed lyrical about the system after casting his vote at Banglabazar Government Primary School.
“It is a good system if there are no anomalies in voting,” he said.
The foreign ministry has described the joint statement of ANFREL-affiliated organisations, issued on Saturday, as "premature" and criticised it for comments based on "misinformation and premeditated assumptions".
In a statement around noon yesterday, the ministry said the 11th national election was being held in a free, fair, festive and peaceful manner in full exercise of the people's voting rights despite "biased speculations" by many quarters, including Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL).
“Odhikar”, an NGO of Bangladesh, is the founding member of the ANFREL.
Earlier, the ministry said, "Odhikar is widely known for its disproportionate bias and prejudice against Bangladesh, in particular the government of the Awami League, which is evident in its various reports, including the recent ones published in October and December 2018."
A total of 174 foreign observers and 65 foreign journalists from various countries and organisations observed yesterday's election, said the ministry.
Chief Election Commi-ssioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda yesterday said the December 30 national election was recognised as successful by world leaders.
“No country or international organisation made any negative comment over the polls. It is our victory,” CEC claimed in a post polls views-exchange meeting with the commission's top officials at the EC secretariat in Dhaka.
The CEC also praised EC officials including Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed for his role in holding the 11th parliamentary election.
“The message that Bangladesh held a free and fair election has reached every nook and corner of the world and no one has rejected the polls,” CEC claimed.
During the meeting, CEC also called upon all the officials of the commission to prepare for the upcoming upazila election.
ভোর ৪ টা থেকে সারাদেশের মুসুল্লিদের ইজতেমা মাঠে জমায়েত হতে দেখা গেছে।
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