Chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal has said he did not see polling agents of any other candidates except for the boat candidate at the polling station.
“What I saw was that they all were from a party. They were the agents of the boat candidate. I did not see any of the remaining candidates,” he told the journalists at his office in the election commission in the capital’s Agargaon on Sunday.
Prior to this, the CEC cast a vote in the 12th parliamentary election at the capital’s Habibullah Bahar College. After that, he went to the election commission, visited the central monitoring cell on law and order, and then briefed the media.
Kazi Habibul Awal said, “Voting has just begun. Hopefully, voters’ presence will increase. I enquired about each centre. A few votes were cast. There were 25 votes, somewhere there were 40.”
Replying to a query on whether hartal and violence would affect the polls, the CEC said he cannot say anything certain as the election commission has just conducted the voting. He will not comment on the reaction of the voters.
Referring to the presence of polling agents, Kazi Habibul Awal, “In fact it seems opponents or rival candidates do not have the ability to appoint polling agents… We had stressed that all candidates must appoint polling agents to make the election competitive. I have found all polling agents were from Awami League. I did not see the people of other candidates.”