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.

The confirmation on computer after successfully voting in EVM. Photo: Star/Sujit Sarker

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.

A Supreme Court lawyer yesterday filed a writ petition with the High Court, challenging the oath-taking of lawmakers elected in the December 30 polls last year.

Advocate Md Taherul Islam Tawhid submitted the petition to the HC bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal.

Earlier in the day, another HC bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir Lytton refused to permit Advocate Taherul to move the same petition before it, saying that the petition is “premature” as all the elected lawmakers are yet to take oath, Barrister Saqeb Mahbub, a lawyer for the petitioner, told The Daily Star.

He also said the writ petition might be filed and moved today before the bench led by Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury.

Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon appeared for the petitioner seeking permission from the HC benches to file and move the petition before the court.

Citing the petition, Barrister Shanjid Siddique, another lawyer for the petitioner, told this newspaper that oath-taking of the persons elected in 11th national polls violated articles 123(3) and 148(3) of the constitution, as the tenure of the 10th parliament is yet to expire.

Awami League President Sheikh Hasina will brief foreign journalists and observers who came to Bangladesh to monitor the 11th national election held yesterday.

The briefing will be held at Gono Bhaban today, AL Joint General Secretary Abdur Rahman made the announcement while briefing journalists at the party president's Dhanmondi office this morning.

Abdur Rahman also expressed his gratitude to all, including the law enforcers and the observers, to contribute towards "holding the election in a free and fair manner."

Sheikh Hasina is set to become Prime Minister of Bangladesh for a third term as the Hasina-led Awami League won a landslide victory in the polls held yesterday.

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.

Tara Mia finds it difficult to even move his right arm deformed since birth. A bit tall and scrawny, the man from Sunamganj's Jamalganj upazila uses his left hand to have meals.

Yet, he is one of the 52 people, who allegedly attacked police with machetes, hockey sticks and iron rods in Mallikpur Bazar area around 4:40pm on December 28, two days before the 11th parliamentary polls.

He was named as an accused in a case filed by police with Jamalganj Police Station two days later.

"How can I attack policemen when my right hand is almost unusable and even my left hand does not function properly," Tara Mia told this correspondent on the High Court premises yesterday.

"I don't do politics. I live on alms ... I'm worried about my family's survival," said the 45-year-old man who went to the HC to seek anticipatory bail in the case.

Tarikul Islam, assistant sub-inspector at Jamalganj Police Station, filed the case accusing 52 named and 70 to 80 unnamed people.

According to the case statement, the accused gathered unlawfully in Mallikpur Bazar area and brought out a procession in support of "sheaf of paddy" around 4:40pm on that day.

They blocked the road and attacked police, leaving at least five policemen, including the complainant, injured.

"I did not participate in any procession whatsoever, let alone attacking police," said Tara Mia.

He was anxiously pacing up and down the court premises.

The fear of arrest brought the man to the HC from Sunamganj on January 15. Since then, he has been staying either at the roadside or empty places as he cannot afford to rent a hotel room.

His wait for bail lingered as the court could not hear his petition yesterday due to time constraint.

Like him, around 600 to 700 people thronged the HC corridors yesterday, seeking bail in cases they claim to be false.

These cases were filed in weeks before the election, mostly against BNP leaders and supporters, allegedly for vandalising campaign offices of the ruling Awami League and its allies, or for planning subversive activities.

They came from Sunamganj, Jashore, Sylhet, Bogura, Narayanganj, Sherpur, Netrakona, Mymensingh and several other districts. Many of them came to the capital over a week ago to seek bail.

A few of them told this newspaper that the incidents happened but they were falsely implicated in the cases.

Several hundred people turned up on the HC premises every day for the last one week. Many of them got bail while others had to wait for hearing.

Yesterday, they were waiting in groups under trees. Some were standing while several others were seen lying on the grass. Anxiety and anger were writ on their faces.

Seventy-year old Mofazzal Hossain from Sherpur's Jhenaigati upazila is one of them. Weary, he was seen dozing off around 2:00pm under a tree on the court premises.

He did not even know the charges brought against him. He was an accused in a case filed with Jhenaigati Police Station.

"I am not involved in politics but I was implicated in a political case,” he said.

Yards away, Manik Mia, who was made an accused along with Tara Mia, was crying, holding another person.

"I am very poor ...  I earn a living by rearing ducks ... sometimes I work as a day labourer.

"They made me an accused, but I don't know how I will continue the case against me,” Manik said in a chocked voice.

"I took a loan of Tk 1,000 from a neighbour, but I have already spent most of it in the last few days," he said.

Asked about the case against Tara and Manik, the complainant, ASI Tarikul, said only those involved in the incident were made accused.

TS Ayub, president of Bagarpara upazila BNP in Jashore, is one of the over 1,000 BNP men, who were accused in at least eight cases filed a couple of days before the polls.

"We have been away from home much before the election. If we don't get bail, we will not be able to return home," he said.

The Daily Star could not independently verify their claims. But there have been media reports that “ghost” cases were filed before the election, and even dead men, people staying abroad and injured persons were made accused.

A couple of months ago, the police authorities ordered the unit chiefs to scrutinise how such cases were filed in different parts of the country in September and October.

For example, police in the capital filed 38 cases against several thousand leaders and activists of the BNP and its front organisations within 12 hours of the BNP rally on September 30 at Suhrawardy Udyan.

The Daily Star visited the 10 spots named as “place of occurrence” in the cases filed with Hazaribagh, Dhanmondi, Kalabagan, New Market, Kamrangirchar, Motijheel, Paltan, Shahbagh, Ramna and Jatrabari police.

This newspaper spoke with more than a dozen roadside vendors, shop owners and their employees and local residents around each of those spots. None of them could recall any incident of attack on police, vandalism or obstruction of police duty as claimed in the case statements.