Mirza Abbas and his wife Afroza Abbas, heavyweight candidates of BNP, have refused to cast their vote in protest to what they said vote rigging.
Mirza Abbas a candidate from Dhaka-8 and his wife Afroza Abbas is a candidate from Dhaka-9 constituency. They alleged that BNP supporters were barred from casting vote all over the country.
Women’s Degree College voting centre’s Presiding Officer Razib Karmakar confirmed The Daily Star that Mirza Abbas refused to vote.
Most of the lawmakers-elect of the Jatiya Party yesterday said the party should join the Awami League-led new government.
The opinion came at a joint meeting of JP presidium members and MPs-elect at the party chief's Banani office, JP Co-chairman GM Quader told reporters after the meeting.
The party's parliamentary body will decide its role in the 11th parliament.
“Our newly elected MPs will join the parliamentary party meeting tomorrow [today] after taking the oath,” Quader added.
Meanwhile, the oath-taking ceremony of MPs-elect will be held at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban today, said a parliament secretariat press release yesterday.
At 11:00am, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will administer the oath.
At the briefing, Quader said, “The parliamentary party meeting will decide what will be the Jatiya Party's role in parliament, considering the interest of the country and the grand alliance."
He added that they would talk about the issue with the alliance after the meeting.
“We are in the grand alliance and contested the election with the alliance partners with identical goals. So, we'll finalise all the decisions through discussions."
The JP co-chairman, who presided over yesterday's meeting, said they discussed the country's political situation at the joint meeting.
Party Secretary General Moshiur Rahman Ranga said they would take some organisational steps to strengthen the party.
He added that parliamentary party members would sit with the AL-led grand alliance to determine the party's role in parliament.
JP Chairman HM Ershad and Senior Co-chairman Raushan Ershad were not present at the meeting.
On Tuesday, Moshiur said they would decide yesterday whether they would remain as the opposition or part of government in the House.
In another development, the Election Commission yesterday in its official results said the AL bagged 257 seats and the JP 22 seats in Sunday's national election.
Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda at a post-election press conference on Monday and EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed at the end of announcement of unofficial results of the polls said the AL won in 259 constituencies and the JP in 20.
EC officials said they made the mistake while preparing the list of all winning candidates hurriedly.
The commission yesterday published a gazette notification of all 298 winning candidates.
According to the official results of the December 30 polls, the AL-led grand alliance bagged 288 seats while the BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront got seven.
Voting was suspended at three polling stations in Brahmanbaria-2 over violence. Voting in those centres will be held on January 9.
Election in Gaibandha-3 was rescheduled for January 27 after Oikyafront candidate TIM Fazley Rabbi died on December 20.
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.
A group of foreign and local election observers, who monitored the December 30 parliamentary election, has termed the election free, fair, peaceful and on a par with major democratic countries in the world.
The foreign observers from Canada, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, who came to Bangladesh at the invitation of Election Monitoring Forum (EMF) and SAARC Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), also said the just concluded election was “much better” than past elections in Bangladesh and could be a “glowing example for other democratic countries”.
The foreign observers were speaking at a press conference held at Jatiya Press Club yesterday to share what they have seen during their daylong visit to nine polling centres in the capital on Sunday.
“This was a world standard election…We can compare this with the elections of major democratic countries,” said former president of Kolkata Press Club, Kamal Bhattacharya.
The senior journalist told Bangladeshi media that he had covered two past elections in Bangladesh as a reporter, and this time he came as an observer.
“I talked to a number of voters standing in queues and inside polling centres and no one told me they faced any threat, harassment or intimidation,” he said.
He said voters had trust and confidence in the Election Commission and authorities concerned that they would follow the best practices in the election; the arrangements helped voters to cast their votes smoothly and with safety.
Another observer from Nepal, Advocate Mohamadin Ali, said Bangladesh has set the best example of a high standard election.
Former minister and member of Nepal Communist Party, Hakikullah Musalman, said he was immensely impressed to see such a peaceful, disciplined and orderly election in Bangladesh.
Speaking at the press conference, Prof Mohammed Abed Ali, executive director of Election Monitoring Forum, informed that the forum is an association of 31 organisations and 26 NGOs registered under the Election Commission.
He said they deployed 5,765 observers in 214 constituencies out of 299, who visited 17,165 centres. Abed Ali said it was a peaceful election and it was far better than previous ones.
Director General of External Publicity Wing of the Foreign Ministry, Mohammad Sarwar Mahmood; Canadian observers Tania Dawn Foster and Chally Foster; Nepalese Communist Party member and former MP Nazir Mia; lawyer of Kolkata Judge Court Gautom Ghosh; writer and researcher from Sri Lanka Mohammed Ehsan Iqbal; and SAARC Human Rights Foundation's director Masum Chowdhury were also present at the press conference.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was elected unofficially from Bogura-6 constituency in the 11th parliamentary elections held on Sunday.
Election Commission (EC) Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed announced the unofficial results of all 141 polling centers of the constituency.
Fakhrul bagged 205987 votes with “sheaf of paddy” symbol while his nearest rival Jatiya Party candidate Nurul Islam Omar got 39,961 votes with “plough” symbol.
But, the BNP secretary general was defeated by AL candidate Ramesh Chandra Sen in Thakurgaon-1 constituency.
Sen bagged 2,25,795 votes with ‘boat’ symbol in all 175 centers while his nearest contestant Fakhrul got 1,27,067 votes with ‘sheaf of paddy’ symbol. Thakurgaon-1 constituency lies in Fakhrul’s home district.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the people voted her party to power after evaluating the fruit of development borne in her previous terms.
“The countrymen have gained benefit of the development work of my government, and thus they cast their votes for us,” She told foreign observers today.
She was speaking to observers from at least 30 different countries during a view-exchange meeting at her official residence Gono Bhaban this evening.
Hasina, also president of the ruling Awami League, said she fought for holding the election in a transparent manner so that people can exercise their voting rights.
She said BNP-Jamaat led alliance has plunged into a setback in the just concluded election as they have indulged in the acts of terrorism and corruption.
The premier also drew attention of the international observers so that they can play a role form their respective levels to accelerate the repatriation process of the Rohingyas from Bangladesh.
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