There were no polling agents of main opposition parties anywhere throughout Dhaka. The Daily Star went about several constituencies in the capital, but could only find polling agents of Awami League everywhere wearing the badge of the ‘boat’.
The Daily Star visited Kakoli High School, Dhaka City College, Teachers’ Training College, Dhaka College, University Laboratory School and College, Dhanmondi Government Boys School and College, New Model School and College voting centres.
While plenty of ‘boat’ supporters were seen displaying badges, only the centre at Dhaka City College, where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cast her vote, had one or two polling agents of ‘Tiger’ and ‘hand fan’ there.
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The Daily Star visited Mohammadpur Government Primary School, Mohammadpur Girls High School, Rayerbazar Community Centre, Shyamoli Ideal Technical Institue, and Primrose Kindergarden polling stations in the constituency which is witnessing electronic voting for the first time.
There too, no opposition polling agents could be seen anywhere. However, ruling party supporters and polling agents were found roaming around aplenty.
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The Daily Star visited Ispahani School, Viquarunnisa Noon School, and Tejgaon Govt Girls High School voting centres. No polling agents other than those from the ruling Awami League could be seen there in the morning.
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The Daily Star visited five polling centres including Rashid Ideal High School, Al Quran Academy, and Bangabndhu College to find only one polling agent of the ‘sheaf of paddy’ who did not seem very convincing.
Shafiqur Rahman, who claims to have been driven out of Bangabandhu College, alleged that false BNP polling agents were filled in Shahidbagh Girls School. "I was supposed to provide polling agents there. But this morning, it was already filled."
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Jatiya Oikyafront Convener Dr Kamal Hossain yesterday said it was a mistake on the part of his party Gonoforum to have joined the December 30 polls with Jamaat-e-Islami leaders contesting under the alliance banner.
He also said they would put pressure on the BNP to sever its ties with Jamaat in order to keep the unity of the Oikyafront intact and strong.
Dr Kamal made the statements following a meeting of his party's central committee at its office in the capital's Arambagh.
"I've already publicly said that I was not aware of Jamaat's participation in the election [under the banner of the Oikyafront]. When I gave consent [to contesting the polls under the alliance's banner], I was not informed about Jamaat. I think you can call it a mistake," he told journalists.
Around 70 leaders from the Gonoforum's central committee participated in its first meeting after the 11th parliamentary polls. It began at 10:00am and concluded around 3:45pm.
The meeting was organised to discuss the party's next course of action following the election.
The Awami League-led grand alliance won the polls bagging 288 out of the 299 seats. The election to the remaining seat of Gaibandha-3 will be held on January 27.
The Jatiya Oikyafront won eight seats, including six for the BNP and two for the Gonoforum.
Twenty-two Jamaat leaders contested the election with the “sheaf of paddy”, the BNP's electoral symbol.
One of the framers of the country's constitution, Dr Kamal had earlier been criticised for allowing Jamaat leaders to take part in the polls under Oikyafront's banner.
Jamaat-e-Islami had opposed the country's 1971 Liberation War and its top leaders were involved in crimes against humanity.
The BNP has claimed that whoever contested the election with the “sheaf of paddy” symbol were candidates of their party, not of Jamaat's.
The AL said that one of the reasons for the Oikyafront and the BNP's defeat in election with a margin so huge was that they allowed Jamaat leaders to participate in it.
Jatiya Oikyafront rejected the election results, alleging widespread polls irregularities and rigging. They also demanded fresh polls following a national dialogue with all stakeholders.
The AL rejected the demand.
After Gonoforum's meeting, Dr Kamal told reporters that he never did politics along with Jamaat and would not do so in the future either.
"My position is clear. We never did politics along with Jamaat nor [are we] thinking of doing so in the future. Whatever you've said about our politics involving Jamaat, we were not aware of it," he said.
When asked what the Gonoforum's position would be if the BNP did not sever its ties with the Jamaat, he said, “We will talk about it if it happens.”
Gonoforum General Secretary Mostafa Mohsin Montu said their party forged the alliance with the BNP, not with the 20-party or the Jamaat.
He said, “We raised our objection when the 22 Jamaat leaders were nominated to contest the election with the 'sheaf of paddy'. The BNP's secretary general told us they [the Jamaat leaders] were nominated as BNP candidates.”
Asked whether his party's two elected MPs would take oath, Montu said they would discuss it and decide later.
At the meeting, he said their leaders discussed the post-election atmosphere and worked out their party's future course of action.
Montu said their leaders strongly believe that to wage a democratic movement in the days to come and to “restore democracy”, there was no other alternative to national unity.
Dr Kamal said there was no disagreement among the people regarding the formation of the parliament through a fair and acceptable election.
“No one apart from the ruling party spokesmen are saying that a fair election was held on December 30, while there is no scope for saying it. I don't think it's a big deal to resolve such a problem. The government should hold a fair election within two to three months, enabling everyone to cast votes in the interest of the country and the constitution.
“People should be given a chance so that they can cast their votes as per their will. If you get the majority of the votes in a fair election, it'll be meaningful. If a government is formed through a fair and credible election, it will be easier for it to discharge its duties properly.”
Speaking to The Daily Star, several Gonoforum leaders who were present at the meeting said they discussed the strengthening of the Oikyafront in such a manner that no one can “malign its reputation because of the Jamaat and the BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman.”
The meeting also decided to hold its central council on March 23 and 24.
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The Jatiya Oikyafront yesterday demanded that the Election Commission immediately scrap the “farcical election” and hold a fresh one under a nonpartisan interim government.
“We reject this so-called result. At the same time, we demand fresh polls under a nonpartisan government,” Oikyafront leader Dr Kamal Hossain said at a press conference at his house in the capital.
Reading out a written statement, the eminent jurist said the news of “vote robbery” came from almost all constituencies.
Responding to a query from a journalist, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said yesterday's election proved that free and fair polls were not possible under a partisan government.
“This also proves that our decision to boycott the parliamentary elections in 2014 was right.”
Kamal said the Oikyafront would hold a meeting today to devise its strategy. The alliance's ongoing movement “to institutionalise democracy” would continue, he added.
Apart from the Oikyafront, the Left Democratic Alliance, comprised of eight left-leaning parties, and the Ganasamhati Andolon rejected the polls and demanded a reelection.
51 BOYCOTT POLLS
As many as 49 BNP and two independent candidates boycotted polls during voting yesterday, bringing allegations of vote rigging, stuffing ballots and forcing polling agents out of centres by the ruling party men.
Other allegations include capturing of polling stations by AL men, rigging votes and barring voters from exercising their franchise.
However, the BNP didn't boycott the polls as a party.
Out of the 49 candidates, 22 are Jamaat leaders who ran on BNP's ticket.
In some districts, almost all the opposition candidates boycotted the polls. In Bagerhat, all four BNP nominees abstained from the election.
Eight out of 11 BNP candidates in Mymensingh boycotted the election. In Khulna, five out of six BNP and Oikyafront candidates opted to stay out.
Faridpur and Jhenidah saw three out of four BNP nominees boycotting the polls in each of the districts.
Jamaat leader Mia Golam Parwar, who ran on BNP's ticket in Khulna-5, first announced that he was boycotting the election over “barring voters from entering polling centres, arresting his party men and the returning officer's inaction”.
Around the same time, Shama Obayed boycotted the polls in Faridpur-2 alleging that AL men stuffed ballots in 100 out of 123 polling centres on Saturday night.
“My polling agents went to the polling centres, but they were forced to leave the centres by police and ruling party men,” the BNP nominee told The Daily Star.
Shama also said she even didn't cast her own vote in protest.
In Dhaka-1, independent candidate Salma Islam boycotted the polls around noon.
Speaking at a press conference at her house in Nababganj's Jamarkhola area, she said she stayed out of the election as it was “rigged”.
Andaleeve Rahman Partha, BNP candidate for Dhaka-17, boycotted the polls around 2:00pm citing that some 600 of his polling agents were forced out of the centres and assaulted by AL men.
JAMAAT BOYCOTTS POLLS
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami in a press statement yesterday said its leaders, who contested the polls with “sheaf of paddy”, boycotted the election.
Terming the election “a farce”, it demanded cancellation of the polls.
BNP's Mirza Abbas and his wife Afroza Abbas boycotted the polls in Dhaka-8 and 9 alleging that voters were deprived of casting their votes. The couple also refrained from exercising their franchise.
Speaking at a press conference at his Shahjahanpur home, Abbas said, “Such an election is not needed in the country in which people cannot cast their votes. We are rejecting the election result.”
Independent candidate in Kurigram-4 Imran H Sarker, also spokesperson of Ganajagaran Mancha, alleged that AL men were casting fake votes in Chilmari's Nayarhat and Astamir Char areas.
COMPLAINT LODGED WITH EC
Around noon, a BNP delegation in a written complaint informed the EC that its polling agents were obstructed from entering polling centres in 221 constituencies.
“Our polling agents are being intimidated and obstructed from entering voting stations. In some cases, they are being driven away from the polling stations or being arrested,” BNP Joint Secretary General Moazzem Hossain Alal, who led the delegation to the EC, told reporters.
He said they received the information from reliable sources. There were similar complaints from other constituencies as well, but those came from unconfirmed sources, he added.
Alal alleged that AL activists were committing irregularities with the help of law enforcers.
The BNP submitted the complaint, signed by party National Election Conducting Committee Chairman Nazrul Islam Khan, to the chief election commissioner.
Alal said voters were not being allowed to enter polling stations in many places and women were being asked to vote for AL candidates.
The party also accused the AL of stamping ballots the night before the polling day in more than half of the 299 constituencies.
“Ballots were being stamped with the help of law enforcement agencies and polling and administration officials,” the BNP said in its complaint.
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BNP candidate Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan has been elected in Brahmanbaria-2 following yesterday's re-polling in three centres of the constituency.
Sattar bagged 1,274 votes yesterday and won with a total of 83,997 votes.
His closest rival Moyeen Uddin, an independent, bagged a total of 75,419.
Sattar had already been leading the polls with 82,723 votes, said Election Commission officials.
The number of constituents under the centres was 10,572. Only 4,300 voted yesterday, said Returning Officer Hayat-Ud-Dwollah Khan as he announced the unofficial result.
There were a total 132 polling centres in Brahmanbaria-2.
Voting was suspended in three centres during the December 30 election due to violence. The centres are Jatrapur Government Primary School, Bahadurpur Government Primary School and Sohagpur Dakkhin Government Primary School.
Including this, eight lawmakers have been elected from the BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront. The Awami League-led alliance won 288 seats.
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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.
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A total of 47 opposition candidates have boycotted the election so far citing vote rigging and ballot stuffing.
Among them, 22 Jamaat candidates, who were contesting the polls under the ‘sheaf of paddy’ symbol, said they boycotted the election due to “unfair voting atmosphere”.
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