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.

An activist of ruling Awami League (AL), who was injured in an attack allegedly by BNP men at a Rajshahi polling centre on election day, succumbed this morning.

With his death, the death toll from polls-violence reached 19.

Ismail Hossain, 50, died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital where he was admitted after the attack, reports our Rajshahi correspondent quoting Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal, a senior doctor of the hospital’s ICU.

Deceased Ismail was the president of AL’s Election Steering Committee of Daogaon union in Godagari upazila.

He was attacked by BNP activists at Palpur Government Primary School polling centre in Godagari yesterday afternoon, said Abdur Razzak Khan, additional superindent of police in Rajshahi.

HOW MAY PEOPLE KILLED ON ELECTION DAY?

Election violence claimed at least 18 lives yesterday, making it one of the deadliest polls in the country.

Among the dead, eight people were of AL and four of BNP.

WHAT IS THE ELECTION RESULT?

AL President Sheikh Hasina has led her party to a third consecutive win in parliamentary polls, securing two-third majority in yesterday's election held in an atmosphere dominated by the ruling party men. 

Hasina is set to become the prime minister for the third straight time -- an unprecedented feat in the country's history.

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.

Election Commission (EC) Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed today said the 11th parliamentary election held on Sunday will remain as a ‘bright example’ in national life.

“This is a huge event in the history of Bangladesh as the voting to the 11th parliamentary election took place in a very free, fair and peaceful environment under a political government,” he told reporters at the EC Secretariat here on the outcomes of the election.

He said many local and foreign observers have expressed their satisfaction over the voting.

Helal said the Awami League-led Grand Alliance gained a massive victory in this election to run the government for a straight three terms.

He also informed the media that so far the results to some 298 constituencies out of 300 have been announced since the election to three centres at Brahmanbaria-2 has been withheld. “There’ll be re-voting in these three centres.”

In Gaibandha-3 constituency polling was postponed as Dr ATM Fazle Rabbi of BNP-led 20-party alliance candidate died of old-age complications.

The EC Secretary extended gratitude to all the political parties, including Awami League, for taking part in this election amid festivity.

He said the Commission was taking preparations over the last one year to hold the election in a successful way and in this process they prepared voters list, completed delimitation of 300 constituencies, appointed the returning officers and assistant returning officers after announcement of the polls schedule, and held meetings with political parties.

Helal Uddin said about 15 lakh polling officials and members of law enforcement agencies were engaged to help hold the election in a free and fair manner with the participation of some 39 political parties and 1,846 candidates.

This election was a huge event in national life except some sporadic incidents as the EC has stopped polling at 22 centres for sporadic clashes and incidents out of the overall number of around 40,000 centres, he said quoting Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda as saying.

About the EVM use in voting, the EC Secretary said EVMs were used in six constituencies and there were curiosity, interest and anxiety over the use of these machines.

“But, we’ve been able to successfully use the EVMs…we’ll use EVMs in the upcoming elections. We will consider on how to get the results from these EVMs much earlier in the future,” he added.

Helal Uddin said the Commission is yet to calculate the overall percentage of votes casted in this election, adding their next big task will be to publish the gazette notification of the election results.

“Thus it will hand over it to the Speaker of Parliament for taking next steps and proceedings.”

The EC Secretary congratulated the Awami League for gaining the overwhelming victory side by side thanked the other political parties to cooperate with the EC for holding this election successfully.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today said this election has become a mockery.

The BNP leader made the comments to The Daily Star at the Syedpur Airport in Nilphamari when he was returning to Dhaka from Thakurgaon after voting ended today at 4:00pm.

Ruling party men and police worked hand in hand during this election, Fakhrul said.

“This is the death of democracy,” he further added.