Bangladesh Polls Live: Heavy Security Outside EC Office In Dhaka As Vote Counting Underway
Bangladesh Polls Live: Please follow this space for all the latest news and updates from Bangladesh as it goes for general election on Sunday.
Bangladesh Prime Minister and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina was re-elected to parliament on Sunday from the Gopalganj-3 constituency after a landslide victory in the general elections marred by sporadic violence and a boycott by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party
Visuals of heavy security deployment outside Bangladesh Election Commission in Dhaka as counting of votes is underway for the general elections held earlier today, PTI reported.
“The 40 per cent voter turnout is a decent one considering the fact that one of the leading oppositions boycotted the election and created anarchy. We have to look at the quality of the election. If the election was free and fair, the voting percentage doesn’t matter,” Awami League Secretary Barrister Biplab Barua told PTI.
As per Bangladesh Election Commission, the country reported a voter turnout of 40%.
Bangladeshis on Sunday turned up in low numbers to cast their votes for the general elections likely to be won by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for a fourth straight term, amid sporadic violence and a boycott by the main opposition party BNP and its allies.According to the initial estimates, the voter turnout was around 40 per cent but the figure could change after the final count, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said. (PTI)
Voting for parliamentary elections ends. Counting process is underway, as reported by Dhaka Tribune.
Bangladeshis on Sunday turned up in low numbers to cast their votes for the general elections likely to be won by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for a fourth straight term, amid sporadic violence and a boycott by the main opposition party BNP and its allies.The turnout for the 12th national parliamentary election has only been 27.15 per cent as of 3 pm, PTI reported.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cast her vote at the Dhaka City College polling centre for the 12th general elections, local media reported.
Two people sustained bullet injuries after a clash erupted between supporters of the ruling Awami League and independent candidate in the port city of Chattogram, reports Daily Sun.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Nitai Roy Chowdhury says: "If elections were held in a free and fair manner, then (PM Sheikh Hasina-led) Awami League would win just 20 to 30 seats."
A voter turnout of 8.37 per cent was recorded till 10 am across 42,000 polling centres, as per the country's Election Commission, reports Dhaka Tribune. The turnout figure will be revised every two hours.
Presidium Member of Jatiya Party, the main opposition party contesting the Sunday polls, Sherifa Quader said she is satisfied with the overall environment of the election.
Quader is party's candidate from Dhaka-18.
when asked about party candidates withdrawing their candidature, she said she had nothing to say about this as it depends on individuals.
Cricketer Shakib Al Hasan, who is contesting the polls as a candidate from Awami League, casts his vote from Magura-1.
A local leader from the ruling Awami League was found dead with stab wounds on the back of his head near a polling station in Munshiganj, reports the Daily Star.
The body of Zillur Rahman, a supporter of AL-nominated candidate from Munshiganj-3 Mrinal Kanti Das, was found by the locals around 100 feet from the Rikabibazar Government Primary School polling centre in Munshiganj's Mirkadim municipality around 9:30am, the report adds.
Clashes have been reported between members of the main Opposition BNP, which is boycotting the polls, and policemen in Chattogram city's Chandgaon area.
"A group of BNP men were staging demonstrations by blocking the road with burning tyres. They attacked on-duty police personnel when the latter tried to free the road," Additional Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Dutta of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (North Division) told The Daily Star.
"They threw stones at police, who retaliated with bullets from shotguns," he said.
Shortly after the polls began at 8 am on Sunday, voting was cancelled at a polling centre in Narsingdi-4 over allegations of ballot stuffing, according to local media.
Voter turnout remained low in many polling centre in the first hour after voting began at 8 am.
A polling station in Dhaka recorded only 175 votes while no votes were cast at two centres, as per the Daily Star.
A father and son duo reached a polling station in Rajshahi, 12 minutes after the polling began after which the centre saw no voters for the next half-an-hour.
Meanwhile Prime Minsiter Sheikh Hasina boasted of her electoral win saying her party will sweep the polls and urged people to vote for “Boat,” the election symbol of the ruling party.
Bangladesh Election Commissioner Anisur Rahman says: "I think the voter turnout will not be less than 50 per cent by the end of the day. The environment is peaceful across the country."
However, boycott call and incidents of sporadic violence are expected to keep the turnout low, according to Bangladeshi media.
The polling began for the 300-member Bangladeshi Parliament on Sunday at 8 am and will continue till 4 pm. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was among the first voters who cast her vote three minutes after the polling began. The Sunday polls are being conducted on 299 seats after the death of a candidate.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged people to go to polling centres and cast vote.
"We have suffered and struggled a lot for this voting right. This election will be free and fair. We want cooperation from the people … cast your vote for boat," she told journalists as she cast her vote, three minutes after the polling started, reports the Daily Star.
Background
Bangladesh Polls Live: Please follow this space for all the latest news and updates from Bangladesh as it goes for general elections on Sunday. The polling for the 300-member Bangladeshi Parliament started on Sunday amid pre poll violence and boycott calls by main oppositon Bangladesh Nationalist Party and around 13 other like-minded parties. The BNP began a 48-hour nationwide strike on Saturday against the "illegal government" amidst sporadic violence.
According to country's Election Commission, a total of 119.6 million registered voters are eligible to vote at Sunday's polls at over 42,000 polling stations across the country.
As many as 1,970 candidates are in the fray including 90 women and 79 candidates from religious and ethnic minorities. Apart from 28 political parties that are contesting the polls, record 747 independent candidates have filed their nomination with majority of them belonging to the ruling Awami League.
The polls, being held in tight security, will have over 100 observers, including three from India.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Awami League is expected to win for a straight fourth time as the main Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former premier Khaleda Zia, 78, who is under house arrest as a convict of graft charges, boycotted the polls.
The Sunday polls have also been called as contest between ruling Awami League candidates and Awami League independents as out of the total 1,970 candidates in the fray, 747 Independents have filed their nomination with majority of them being from AL.
Incidents of sporadic pre-poll violence marred the country as a passenger train was set ablaze by miscreants on Friday, killing four people and several polling station across the country were also torched, though no casulaties were reported from those attacks.
In a nationally televised address ahead of the polls this week, PM Hasina urged the pro-democratic and law-abiding parties not to fuel ideas that “disrupt" the country's constitutional process.
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