Low turnout in local polls too

The usual election-day fervour was missing in the first phase of the upazila parishad polls yesterday, as most of the voting centres across 139 upazilas wore a deserted look, and polling officials and law enforcers were passing idle time.

The polls also saw sporadic incidents of violence and irregularities.

According to unofficial results till 11:30pm, almost all the relatives of the ruling party MPs who ran defying the Awami League high command's directives have won.

Apart from the AL-backed supporters and election agents, there were hardly any voters even in front of the campaign booths, according to witnesses.

After voting ended, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said polling in the first phase was held in a free, fair and peaceful manner, except for a few stray incidents of violence and irregularities.

Briefing journalists at the EC office, he said the voter turnout was estimated to be around 30 to 40 percent.

However, the CEC blamed rain in some parts of the country and the ongoing paddy harvesting season for the low turnout.

"It would've been better if the turnout had been higher ... My concern is how the voting went; whether the voters were able to come [to the centers] and cast their votes freely and whether there were irregularities."

Habibul said that voting at two centers was suspended due to irregularities.

Briefing journalists at the party president's Dhanmondi office after the polling, AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader said turnout was satisfactory.

Then he, like the polls chief, blamed rain and paddy harvesting as the reasons for the low presence of voters.

If the CEC's estimate is proven correct, this would be the lowest turnout in upazila polls since 2009, said EC sources.

The turnout in the 2009 upazila polls was 70.57 percent, which fell to 61.23 percent in 2014. On an average, it stood at 40 percent in the 2019 upazila polls, which was held in five phases.

In 2019, the turnout was 43.31 percent in the first phase of this upazila election and 41.25 percent in the second phase, 41.41 percent in the third, 36.54 in the fourth, and 38.62 in the last phase.

Meanwhile, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, at a press briefing in the party's Nayapaltan headquarters, said the people did not fall into the "trap of fraudulence" set up by AL and rejected the polls.

He said the people have no interest in the polls anymore as the results are pre-determined.

The battle of ballot took place among the independents, mostly from the ruling AL, as political parties have not fielded candidates.

The BNP and many other parties are staying off the polls, like they did during the January 7 national election, when the voter turnout was 42 percent.

The BNP said the incumbent Election Commission is "not capable of holding the elections to local government bodies in a free and fair manner".

AL MPS' RELATIVES FARE WELL

According to the unofficial results announced by the respective returning officers till 11:30pm, Noakhali-4 MP Ekramul Karim Chowdhury's son Shabab Chowdhury was elected Subarnachar upazila chairman.

Madaripur-2 MP Shajahan Khan's elder son Asibur Rahman, a member of central Jubo League, was elected upazila chairman of Madaripur Sadar.

Meanwhile, State Minister for Chattogram Hill Tracts Affairs Kujendra Lal Tripura's son-in-law Bishwa Pradeep Kumar Karbari, the incumbent Ramgarh upazila chairman, was re-elected.

Bogura-1 MP Sahadara Mannan's younger brother Minhaduzzaman Liton, president of Sonatala upazila AL and incumbent upazila parishad chairman, was also re-elected.

Mannan's son Mohammad Sakhawat Hossain, a member of Sariakandi municipal AL, was elected Sariakandi upazila chairman.

In Nazirpur upazila, SM Noor-e-Alam Siddiqui alias Shahin was elected chairman. He is the younger brother of Pirojpur-1 MP SM Rezaul Karim.

Thakurgaon-2 lawmaker Mazharul Islam's uncle Shafiqul Islam was elected chairman of Baliadangi upazila.

AL Joint General Secretary and lawmaker Mahbubul Alam Hanif's cousin Ataur Rahman, general secretary of Kushtia municipality AL and incumbent chairman of Kushtia Sadar upazila, was also re-elected.

VIOLENCE AND IRREGULARITIES

At least 10 people were injured in a clash between supporters of two chairman candidates at the Balia Government Primary School voting centre in Madaripur Sadar upazila, said the district's Additional Superintendent of Police Alaul Hasan.

Three were injured in a clash between supporters of two chairman candidates in Jamalpur Sadar upazila.

In Munshiganj, three crude bombs went off when supporters of two chairman candidates had a standoff near a polling station in Gazaria upazila yesterday afternoon.

Police later fired blank shots to disperse them.

At another polling station in the same upazila, voting was suspended for around half an hour as supporters of a chairman candidate snatched a few ballots, said police.

Voting was also suspended for an hour in Narsingdi Sadar upazila due to a scuffle between supporters of two chairman candidates.

Meanwhile, voting was suspended in two voting centres in Khagrachhari's Laxmichari upazila after a group of miscreants snatched ballot boxes.

In Sirajganj's Belkuchi upazila, police arrested a union parishad chairman for distributing money among voters, while a municipality councilor in Kushtia Sadar upazila was arrested while trying to cast fake votes.

At least 11 people were also arrested in Feni's Fulgazi upazila for trying to cast fake votes, while a youth in Narayanganj's Bandar upazila was sent to jail on the same charges.

Meanwhile, at least 13 crude bombs exploded between 11:30am to 1:30pm at another polling station in the same upazila.

In Chattogram's Mirsarai upazila, three polling officials were detained on charges of casting fake votes, while in Bogura's Gabtali upazila, a judicial magistrate sentenced a chairman candidate's polling agent to one year imprisonment over casting fake votes.

Besides, the presiding officer of the same polling station was kept detained till the filing of this report at 6:00pm for helping the polling agent cast fake votes, said police.

In Rangpur Pirgachha upazila, a 70-year-old man died of cardiac arrest on the premises of a polling centre just after casting his vote, said police.

(Our correspondent from respective districts contributed to the report.)