Awami League candidate Mohammad Ali Arafat won the Dhaka-17 by-election yesterday which was marred by an attack on independent runner Hero Alom and a few stray incidents of irregularities.

Arafat bagged 28,816 votes and his nearest contestant, independent Ashraful Hossain Alom, widely known as Hero Alom, secured 5,609, said Returning Officer Monir Hossain Khan while announcing the unofficial results around 9:00pm.

The turnout was 11.51 percent.

Six other candidates, including main opposition Jatiya Party's Sikdar Anisur Rahman, lost their security deposits as they failed to bag one-eighth of the total ballots cast.

Fake votes were cast in at least one polling centre while "dummy polling agents" were there in many others. Many agents couldn't even tell for whom they were working.

Halfway through the polling, independent candidate Md Tarikul Islam announced quitting the by-election alleging that there was no environment for fair polls.

Supporters of Arafat, wearing badges of "boat", the AL's electoral symbol, were seen inside many polling stations and also at the entrances to centres violating the electoral code of conduct.

Police barred a few journalists from carrying out their duties inside polling booths in at least two centres.

Apart from these incidents, the by-election was by and large peaceful. The voting began at 8:00am and continued till 4:00pm without any break.

Mohammad Ali Arafat

Reporters and photojournalists of The Daily Star visited at least 64 out of total 124 polling stations.

The Dhaka-17 (Gulshan, Banani, Cantonment and Bhasantek) parliamentary seat fell vacant following the death of AL lawmaker Akbar Hossain Pathan, an actor popularly known as Farooque, in May.

ATTACK ON HERO ALOM

Supporters of the AL candidate, wearing badges of "boat", assaulted Hero Alom after forcing him to leave the polling centre at Banani Bidyaniketan School and College in Banani around 3:20pm.

Before heading towards the polling booths, the independent runner took selfies with some fans at the school playground. All of a sudden, 50 to 60 people wearing badges of "boat" came towards Hero Alom and said that it was not a place to shoot TikTok videos.

As the situation worsened, police escorted him towards the main gate of the polling centre. Arafat's supporters followed.

As Hero Alom was about to leave the place, the ruling party men shoved him from behind and beat him up.

Police said they detained four people over the assault of the candidate.

Returning Officer Monir Hossain Khan later told reporters that Hero Alom went to the polling centre with around 50-60 people and the law enforcers took him out to maintain law and order.

"We will investigate the incident after collecting footage and take action against those responsible," he added.

Earlier in the day, Hero Alom expressed doubt about fair polls alleging that his agents were driven out of different polling centres.

'DUMMY AGENTS'

At least 80 polling agents, other than those of the AL nominee, were unable to identify their candidates during the voting.

The Daily Star correspondents visited 65 polling centres yesterday.

Some "agents" claimed that their local "elder brothers" hired them to discharge duties as polling agents.

Morium, a polling agent at booth-5 at the Banani Model School polling centre initially told this newspaper that she didn't know which candidate she was representing.

After a brief pause, she said that she was working for the candidate named "Mr Labu".

As she was told that there was no candidate named Labu, Morium responded, "Labu bhai has brought me here."

Later, the polling agent for the AL candidate asked Marium to say that she was representing Jatiya Party candidate Sikdar Anisur Rahman.

Like Morium, many other polling agents struggled to name the candidates they were working for when correspondents of this newspaper asked them.

After seeking assistance from the polling agents of the AL nominee, they claimed to be the agents of either the JP candidate or the Jaker Party nominee.

At the polling centre at Manarat International School and College, a man was seen inside booth-2. He introduced himself as Humayun Kabir, a leader of Swechchhasebak League, the volunteer wing of the AL.

Enquired by this newspaper about what he was doing inside the booth, he kept mum.

A polling agent, who was sitting next to Humayun, claimed that the latter was an agent of Hero Alom.

Asked which candidate he was representing and what was the candidate's electoral symbol, Humayun could not say.

He went out of the polling booth and asked another man whether he knew whose polling agent he was supposed to be.

"You are an agent of Hero Alom," said the man who was wearing a "boat" badge.

LOW TURNOUT

There was a significant difference between posh and poor neighbourhoods in terms of turnout.

Polling centres in Cantonment and Gulshan areas saw a thin presence of voters. Polling officials were seen waiting idly for voters.

At the four polling booths at Adamjee Cantonment College, only 182 votes were cast out of total 11,257 by 1:15pm.

A similar picture was seen at the BAF Shaheen College, where only 100 out of 3,394 ballots were cast till 3:30pm.

However, at the polling centre at Jamia Mohammadia Islamia Karail T&T Colony Madrasa, located at the heart of Karail slum, the voters' presence was comparatively higher.

At least 1,001 votes out of total 10,147 votes were cast at the centre till noon.

FAKE VOTES

At least 100 people who are not voters of Dhaka-17 casted ballots at the Jamia Mohammadia Islamia Karail T&T Colony Madrasa polling centre, a correspondent of this paper saw. They were seen with a list of voters who had not cast their ballots.

During their two-hour stay towards the end of voting at the centre, the correspondent also witnessed the same persons casting several ballots at intervals.

Many also took photos of their casting fake votes for "boat".

The Daily Star found a large number of AL supporters gathering in front of the polling centres.

EC'S REACTION

Election Commissioner Md Alamgir yesterday termed the attack on Hero Alom "unfortunate and unexpected".

Briefing reporters at the Election Commission after the by-election, he said the voting was free, fair, and peaceful.

"The by-election took place in 124 polling centres. You can't say that the by-election was not free and fair only by analysing the incident that occurred in one centre," he added.

'WON'T PARTICIPATE IN ANY POLLS UNDER THIS GOVT'

Speaking at a press conference at his home in the capital, Hero Alom said he won't take part in any election under the incumbent government.

"If the polling environment turns out to be like this, if the candidates are attacked, then there is no need to participate in any upcoming elections," he said after returning home from hospital.

He said the attack on an independent candidate has proved that no fair election can be held under the incumbent government.

He also alleged rigging of votes, but didn't provide details.

'ATTACK UNACCEPTABLE'

AL candidate Araft said, "I think it [the attack] is very much unacceptable. I think a quarter tried to make the election controversial. I urge the Election Commission and the law enforcement agencies to bring the attackers, no matter who they are, to book following a fair investigation."

Meanwhile, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police in a statement said a group of youths suddenly attacked Hero Alom at the end of polling.

The incident took place outside a polling station and it didn't cause any problems in voting, the DMP said.

Police reviewed footage and detained four people involved in the incident. Drives are underway to pick up the others involved in the incident, the statement added.