A journalist has been arrested in Khulna in a case filed under the Digital Security Act for publishing “false” information on the number of votes cast in a constituency during Sunday's polls.

Hedayet Hossain Mollah, local correspondent of the Dhaka Tribune, was arrested yesterday, a day after the case was filed against two reporters, including him, with Batiaghata Police Station in the district.

The other accused is Rashidul Islam, staff reporter of the daily Manab Zamin, reports our correspondent in Khulna.

According to the initial announcement of the election results, the number of votes cast in Khulna-1 was higher than the total number of voters in the constituency. As the matter was brought to the returning officer's attention, he said it was a mistake and later came up with a correction, said local journalists.

By the time the correction could be made, the two media outlets ran reports saying the number of votes cast was around 22,000 higher than the actual number of voters, they said.

Documents provided by the returning officer's office showed 45,000 of the 2,59,420 voters did not cast their ballots.

Batiaghata Upazila Nirbahi Officer Debashish Chowdhury, also the assistant returning officer, filed the case against the two journalists.

The case statement said the accused published false, fabricated and provocative information on the voting with the use of electronic devices, including laptops, which might confuse people and create a chaotic situation.

Such activities made the “fair election” questionable, the statement said.

Mahabubur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Batiaghata Police Station, told The Daily Star that they arrested Hedayet near Gallamary Bridge in connection with the case.

However, several witnesses said the journalist was picked up near Picture Palace intersection in the city when he was returning home from the Khulna Press Club.

Hedayet's wife Sayida Laila Akhter told this newspaper that she called her husband over the phone but another man picked it up and introduced himself as the OC of the police station.

“Last night, the returning officer had requested my husband to apologise for the news. Otherwise, he said my husband would face action,” she said.

Despite repeated attempts, the RO could not be reached over the phone for comments.

Handcuffed, Hedayet was produced before a district court which sent him to jail.

Meanwhile, a former deputy secretary of the Election Commission has been picked up by detectives in the city's Agargaon area for “leaking information on the election”.

Shamsul Alam was allegedly collecting election results submitted to the commission from across the country and sending those to “others”, said police and EC sources.

He was picked up near the Nirbachan Commission office on Monday night, they said.

GG Biswas, officer-in-charge of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station, said the official was kept at the DB office on Mintoo Road.

Abdul Baten, additional commissioner (detectives) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said they picked up Shamsul for interrogation. 

The Awami League used party men, police and administration officials to influence the 11th parliamentary polls, BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront leaders said yesterday at a “mass hearing”. 

The alliance leaders said ghost cases were filed against its activists and they were harassed and detained without warrants.

“There was no voting on December 30 and so the government formed from it is not valid,” said Maj Gen (retd) AMSA Amin, who had run with Dr Kamal Hossain-led Gonoforum ticket from Kurigram-2.         

The Oikyafront arranged the “mass hearing” on “so-called parliamentary election” at the Supreme Court Bar Association auditorium. A number of the alliance candidates had filed election petitions with the High Court challenging the December 30 polls results.

At least 41 candidates testified during the over seven-hour-long session of the “mass hearing” before a panel that included Dr Kamal and former Dhaka University vice-chancellor Prof Emajuddin Ahmed.

Leaders of the BNP and its political allies said they, by taking part in the December 30 polls, had “unmasked the ruling party”. Top BNP leaders, including its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Vice-Chairman Abdullah Al Noman and Standing Committee Member Abdul Moyeen Khan attended the programme.

Sabina Yasmin, who ran from Natore-2, said, “I was getting ready to go to the polling stations after learning that my polling agents had been driven out of there on election day.”

She said she could not cast her vote even because her house had been padlocked from the outside that morning.

Detectives in plainclothes picked up her husband -- BNP Organising Secretary Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu -- on December 12. Dulu is now in Keraniganj jail.

Sabina said on December 20 when they were distributing campaign flyers, 30 to 40 AL men harassed her and 15 women working for her campaign.

Four days later, about 500 armed AL men attacked her campaign team of 200, most of whom were women, said Sabina, adding that she along with her activists took cover in a drug store.

They were confined to the shop until police rea

Attendees at the programme offering prayers for the victims of the Chawkbazar fire. Photo: Prabir Das

“I hired fewer men [for the campaign] because they used to get clobbered with hammers,” she said.

Sabina claimed that she could not campaign after December 24.

Anisur Rahman Talukder, who was the BNP candidate for Madaripur-3, said the AL had repeatedly been saying that “the opposition party didn't campaign, didn't have posters printed, and didn't ask for votes”.

Whenever they tried to campaign, they were harassed, attacked, and their posters were torn, he said.

Several other candidates echoed him. Law enforcers cordoned off candidates' houses and when they or their activists came out of the houses, they were picked up, often without any arrest warrants, they said.

Anisur said he learnt from his sources on election day morning that 80 percent of the votes had been cast between 2:30am and 5:00am that day.

BNP leader Rumana Mahmud, who ran from Sirajganj-2, said police fired at her and her activists when they were campaigning on December 14. Her aide Mery Begum lost her eyesight in the attack, she said.

Sardar Sakhawat Hossain Bakul, BNP nominee for Narsingdi-4, alleged that his polling agents were ousted from 152 of 155 polling centres in his constituency on election day.

Nitai Roy Chowdhury, who ran from Magura-2 and bagged around 65,000 votes, alleged that before election day, police went to every ward, union and village in his constituency and threatened his party leaders and activists, detained some of them. They also harassed the women, he claimed.

BNP candidate for Satkhira-1 Habibul Islam Habib said he was nominated several times by the party and had bagged 1.46 lakh votes in the 2008 polls.

He said it was incredible that he got only 17,445 votes and had not got a single vote in 20 of 188 polling stations.

Other defeated candidates of the 11th parliamentary election also accused the ruling party, Election Commission, officials of the administration, intelligence and security personnel of violating the constitution and stripping people their right to vote.

Thanking the alliance members for arranging the “mass hearing”, Dr Kamal said, “It [December 30 polls] cannot be said an election but an event where the government in the name of election staged a farce.”

The government deprived the country's people of their rights, violated the constitution, and insulted democracy, he said.

Without mentioning any name, Dr Kamal said state servants who were in the administration should be ashamed of themselves because they forgot their constitutional duties and became servants of “a single individual”.

The eminent jurist also said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia should be immediately released, unconditionally.

“It is a pity that even after 48 years of independence, we have to raise such demand for those who contributed to democracy,” he said, calling for unity to “restore” democracy in the country.

The Jatiya Party does not want to sit on the opposition bench in parliament.

Its MPs, in a parliamentary party meeting yesterday, unanimously decided to be a part of the Awami League-led new government.

“Since we participated in the election under the banner of the Awami League-led grand alliance, we want to join the government. Who will sit on the opposition bench is not our concern," JP Co-chairman GM Quader told journalists after the meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

They sat for the meeting immediately after taking oath as members of the 11th parliament.

"We doubt if people will accept us as the opposition if we quit the grand alliance now to play the role of the opposition," Quader said, adding, "We don't want to sit on the opposition bench … This is a practical problem for us.”

During the election, the leaders and activists of the JP worked with AL men and they now want to work together with the ruling party for the country's development, he said.

"A delegation of the party [JP] will meet Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina to convey our decision to her. If she has any suggestions for us, we will discuss them in our party forum," Quader said.

At the meeting, he said, his party's lawmakers opined that they want to work with the leader of the grand alliance to take the country  forward.

The complication emerged due to the poor performance of the BNP-led alliance in the election, Quader said, adding, "We did not predict such a poor performance by the BNP.”

The way people voted indicated that they did not want to see the opposition in parliament, Quader claimed.

After the meeting, JP Secretary General Mashiur Rahman Ranga told reporters that people were happy with the government and they did not want a major opposition in parliament.

"We want to stay with the new government. However, grand alliance chief Sheikh Hasina will make the final decision in this regard. We will abide by her decision," Ranga said.

In the December 30 polls, the AL-led grand alliance secured 288 seats. JP, a key component of the alliance, bagged 22 seats. The BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront managed to win only seven seats. Independent candidates won three.

Election in Gaibandha-3 was rescheduled for January 27 following the death of a candidate and re-polling will take place in three centres in Brahmanbaria-2 on January 9.

The Jatiya Oikyafront has announced that its MPs-elect will not take  oath as the alliance rejected the polls results alleging that the election was rigged by the ruling party.

Against this backdrop, it was assumed that the JP may sit on the opposition bench, like in the current parliament.

The JP became the main opposition in the current parliament formed after the 2014 election, which the BNP-led alliance had boycotted. The JP won 34 seats and its senior leader Raushan Ershad was recognised as the leader of the opposition with the status of a minister. Three JP MPs were also made ministers.

Their dual role has been criticised. The party could not play its due role as the main opposition in parliament in the last five years.

Meanwhile, JP Chairman HM Ershad could not take his oath as MP yesterday due to his illness, said GM Quader, Ershad's younger brother.

He was then scheduled to take the oath separately at 3:00pm yesterday. But later, he informed Quader that he was feeling ill and would not be able to do so.

Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh René Holenstein today said Switzerland commended all parties for their participation in 11th Parliamentary Elections in Bangladesh.

“Switzerland took note of the results of the 11th Parliamentary Elections and commended all parties for their participation in the process,” said Holenstein during a meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque today.

The Swiss ambassador deplored the violence that occurred before and during the elections causing unnecessary suffering and pain, according to a statement.

Referring to reported accounts of intimidation, irregularities and further obstacles to a level playing field throughout the process, which have tainted the electoral campaign and the vote, Ambassador Holenstein underlined the need to address these reports in full transparency and according to the rule of law.

“Switzerland trusts that the new Government of Bangladesh will uphold the democratic values it was elected upon and that it will support the people’s will to move towards democracy in full respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” he said.

He assured the foreign secretary that Switzerland looked forward to its continued partnership with Bangladesh.

Two Gonoforum lawmakers-elect yesterday wrote to the Speaker expressing their willingness to take oath on March 7.

Sultan Mohammad Monsur and Mokabbir Khan, presidium members of Gonoforum, took part in the December 30 national election as Gonoforum candidates, with the BNP's electoral symbol “sheaf of paddy”.

Asked about the matter, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told The Daily Star that he did not know anything about the letter.

Senior Gonoforum leaders said they would take all kinds of actions against the two leaders if they took oath disobeying the party's decision.

Just around a month before the national election, the BNP, the Gonoforum and some other political parties had formed Jatiya Oikyafront.

Oikyafront leaders, including Dr Kamal Hossain, boycotted the polls results and called for a new election.

The BNP won only six seats against 289 by the ruling Awami League-led Grand Alliance.

All the six MPs-elect of BNP decided not to join the Jatiya Sangsad.

Talking to this newspaper, Sultan Monsur yesterday said Dr Kamal knew about their oath.

Mostafa Mohsin Montu, general secretary of Gonoforum, said the two leaders would violate the party's decision if they took oath.

“Our party has decided not to send the two MPs to parliament. We will take all necessary actions if they take oath.”

Montu also said the duo was misleading people by giving false statements.

If they took oath violating the party's decision, the Gonoforum would write to the Speaker to cancel their memberships for floor-crossing, he said.

Former Awami League leader Sultan Mansur, also an ex vice-president of Ducsu, was elected MP from Moulvibazar-2 and Mokabbir from Sylhet-2.

Soon after the December 30 election, the duo said Kamal was positive about their joining parliament.

On January 31, Kamal told journalists that the Gonoforum has informed the two about its decision that they should not take oath.