Madaripur Sadar upazila polls: Only one vote cast in a booth in first 1.5hrs

Asmot Ali Khan Public School and College's female voting center has a total of 2,990 votes. Within the first one and a half hours, only one vote was cast in a booth of the center in Madaripur Sadar upazila polls.

Voting began in a total of 139 upazilas in the first phase today at 8:00am.

Voting is in process in Madaripur Sadar upazila with very low turnout. Officials who are conducting the voting said rain in the morning might preclude voters from exercising their franchise.

They hoped the number of voters would increase as the day progressed.

Asmot Ali Khan Public School and College has two voting centres, one for male and the other for female voters. A total of 71 votes, or 2.3 per cent, were cast in the female voting centre. In the female voting centre, a total of 8 votes were cast in the number 1 and 7 polling booths and only one in the number 6 polling booth.

Presiding officer Dipankar Karmakar told Prothom Alo that the turnout was due to drizzling in the area since morning. The number of voters would increase as the election progresses.

Asmot Ali Khan Public School and College's male voting center has a total of 2,780 votes. Till 9:30am, only 106 votes were cast in the center which is 3.8 per cent of the total vote.

Asibur Rahman, son of Awami League’s presidium member and local lawmaker Shajahan Khan, is contesting with the pineapple symbol in Madaripur Sadar upazila. His lone opponent is Pavelur Rahman who is contesting the polls with motorcycle symbol. Pavelur is organising secretary of the district Awami League and cousin of Shajahan Khan.

Both the candidates have brought allegations of breaching electoral code of conduct, intimidating voters and distributing money to buy votes against each other.

These allegations and counter-allegations made the electoral environment heated in the upazila.

Law enforcers and returning officer have flagged all 117 voting centers in the upazila as risky.

Although no violence was reported in the first hour, turnout was seen to be meager during visits to four voting centres in the upazila.

Stagnated rainwater was seen in front of the Kulapuddi Government Primary School voting center. The voter number was sparse in the center.
The voting center’s presiding officer Shahidul Islam said the turnout might be low due to rain.

Shajahan Khan’s son Asibur Rahaman cast his vote in Asmot Ali Khan Public School and College center at 8:30am. He brought allegations of using black money against his competitor.

Other than two candidates in chairman post, three are contesting in vice chairman post and five in female vice chairman post.

Total voters in the upazila is 322,426.