UPAZILA POLLS EC’s final tally betrays reality
Courtesy New Age 26/1/09
The upazila elections, held on January 22 amidst violence, intimidation, assaults and harassment of election officials, capture of polling centres and stuffing and snatching of ballot boxes, saw more than 71 per cent voter turnout, according to the Election Commission’s final tally.
Academics, election observers, election officials and voters said that such a high turnout shown in the final tally was not compatible with the reality and observed that only stuffing of ballot boxes could make such count possible.
The high turnout of voters had also stunned the Election Commission. At the end of the voting on January 22, chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda and another election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain had admitted to low turnout and announced that the reason would be looked into.
Election observers and political leaders, including ruling Awami League’s spokesperson, had also observed law turnout and the media widely reported the causes.
According to result sheets of 450 upazilas out of 475 in which polls were held on January 22, the voter turnout was 71.57 per cent.
The highest 92.57 per cent turnout was recorded in Kalai upazila of Jaypurhat district. The total number of voters in the upazila was 93,412 while 86,473 of them cast their votes. In Khetlal upazila in the same district the turnout was 92.14 per cent.
The lowest 39.89 per cent turnout was recorded in Savar upazila of
After visiting several centres in four upazilas, including Sreepur under Gazipur district, election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain had told reporters on the polling day, ‘After visiting several centres in four upazilas, it appeared to me that at best 45 to 50 per cent votes would be cast in the areas….’
The results of Sreepur upazila, however, saw 70.51 per cent votes cast. The total number of voters in the upazila was 2,67,836 while 1,88,861 had cast their votes.
When his comments were sought on the eventual high turnout in the upazila polls, Jatiya Nirbachon Parjobekkhan Parishad chairman Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah said, ‘Naturally, it surprised many… Our monitoring teams also reported low turnout in the [upazila] elections…’
Faruk Hossain, a small trader in Mymensingh said, ‘I don’t think 72 per cent voters had actually cast votes in the polls. What I saw myself and came to know from media reports was not compatible with the final tally…’
Mofakkharul Islam, an employee of an NGO who worked as an observer in Gazipur in the upazila elections, was of similar views. ‘I can say from my own observation that the rate of the votes cast ranged between 50 and 55 per cent…We didn’t see a single queue at the polling centres we visited throughout the election hours from 8:00am to 4:00pm,’ he said adding: ‘The Election Commission’s final tally doesn’t match what really happened…’
Haresul Islam, a rickshaw-puller from Pabna, said, ‘I heard passengers talk about the low turnout. No one was talking about a high turnout.’
The CEC on the polling day felt uneasy about the low turnout and said the commission would probe the reasons. ‘We expected that people would participate in the [upazila] polls as they did in the parliamentary elections. We had taken measures for their safety and security but the electorates, particularly the youths and women, avoided the polling centres and we need to find out the reasons,’ Huda said.
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