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.
A team of foreign election observers said they witnessed calm and peaceful election at different polling centres in the capital yesterday.
“We have visited a number of polling stations… and as far as the perception goes there was calm, serene and ambiance in the polling stations,” said Aariz Aftab, chief electoral officer of West Bengal.
Talking to reporters at the end of voting, he said, “....a lot of gaiety was visible. Whatever we've perceived I think it was very meticulous planning and meticulous organisation by the Bangladesh Election Commission.
“We hope that through this visit the relationship between the EC of India and EC of Bangladesh will be strengthened... this is to carry forward good and cordial relationship between the election commissions of the two countries,” Aariz Aftab added.
The observer team includes five persons from Canada, India and Nepal; of them, three were from Indian election commission. Besides, three local observers visited polling centres.
“Everyone is getting access to their polling station and is able to cast their ballot and all of the officers and officials are doing a great job in maintaining order,” said Tania Dawn Foster, an observer from Canada.
Tania Foster said she visited five centres and a number of polling booths. “Everything that I have observed to this point has demonstrated that the voters are feeling empowered and enthusiastic about being able to come and vote,” she said, reports BSS.
She said the election has been “really orderly” that the voters are “feeling empowered and enthusiastic about being able to come and vote”.
Another Indian observer, Gautom Ghosh, said, “Voting going on very spontaneously. There is complete peace and I feel everything is good till now.”
Later, during a briefing at Sonargaon Hotel, Prime Minister's International Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi told foreign observers that 18 people were killed in violence during the parliamentary election.
Of the victims, 12 were from the Awami League, three from BNP, one from Chhatra Sena, one ansar member and one bystander, he said.
Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda yesterday rejected the Transparency International Bangladesh report on irregularities in the 11th parliamentary polls, terming the report “baseless”.
Besides the CEC, two ministers criticised the report.
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader, also road transport and bridges minister, called the TIB report a “fairy tale”.
Information Minister Hasan Mahmud said the TIB report was a “deliberate falsehood” and it echoed the speech of opposition alliance -- Jatiya Oikyafront -- regarding the December 30 polls.
On Tuesday, the TIB in its study titled “Review of Election Process of 11th National Election” said irregularities took place in 47 out of the 50 constituencies it surveyed.
It termed the polls “partially participatory, non-competitive, questionable and faulty" and demanded a judicial inquiry into the reported irregularities.
The anti-graft watchdog said ballot papers stamping took place the night before the election in 33 constituencies, stamping ballots openly after occupying booths in 30 seats on the election day and non-availability of ballot papers in 22 constituencies.
The TIB study found ballot boxes filled-up before polling even began in 20 constituencies; voters forced to cast ballots for a particular symbol in 26 constituencies, casting of fake votes in 41 seats, silence of the administration and law enforcing agencies in 42 seats and obstructing and driving out polling agents in 29 seats.
In the 50 constituencies, not all the polling centres necessarily saw the anomalies. Irregularities happened in one or more centres of a seat, the watchdog said.
“We are completely rejecting the TIB report on the election. It is baseless,” the CEC told reporters after an orientation programme of the newly appointed Election Commission officials at the Nirbachon Bhaban in the capital yesterday.
The CEC said there was no similarity of the TIB report with those published in newspapers and accounts of other observers on the voting day.
Information provided by the election enquiry committees, executive magistrates and EC officials and others on the polls also do not match the TIB findings, he said.
The CEC also slammed the TIB's allegation that the EC failed to act neutrally and the role of some polling officers and law enforcement agencies were biased, saying, “The speech is disrespectful ... They should not speak like that.”
He said the commission would not take any step against TIB over its report.
“The TIB has come up with the fairy tale long after the election,” Quader told journalists after an extended meeting of Dhaka South City unit Jubo League at AL's central office on the Bangabandhu Avenue.
“The TIB has cooked up so many imaginary and unbelievable stories. The countrymen will give a reply to the report.”
He termed the December 30 election transparent and excellent.
“Did any agent of BNP and Oikyafront candidates make any objection about the transparency of the election on the voting day?” Quader questioned.
In another development, Information Minister Hasan Mahmud said, “There is no difference between the TIB report and the speech of the Oikyafront. In fact, the TIB just published a report in favour of BNP and Jamaat-Shibir.”
He was addressing a press conference in his Dewanji Pukur Par lane house in the port city yesterday, reports a staff correspondent in Chattogram.
The minister added that though the TIB usually claimed that its reports were based on research findings. But in fact, no proper research was actually done.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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