EC takes stern stance after failing to control situation

The election commission (EC) shut down one polling centre after the other due to disorder yesterday, Wednesday, after voting started at the Gaibandha-5 (Saghata-Fulchhari) by-election.

By the afternoon, votes in one third of the polling centres were cancelled. Eventually, not being able to bring the situation under control, the EC declared a complete halt to the voting by around 2:30 in the afternoon.

There has hardly ever been a precedent where voting was brought to a complete halt in a parliamentary seat due to allegations of all sorts of discrepancies including several persons entering the confidential polling booth at one time, people's votes being cast by others and the agents of various candidates being forced out of the centres.

According to analysts, the EC basically has to depend on the law enforcement agencies to prevent such irregularities. However, the EC was unable to hold a free and fair election with the law enforcement agencies. Finally the commission had to apply all the authority that it held.

This has been the first election to any parliamentary seat under the present EC led by chief election commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal. And it faced this chaos in this first election. There were Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) set up in all 145 centres of this election.

EC sources said that the CEC and other officials of the commission had been observing the election by CCTV from the EC office in Agargaon, Dhaka, from when the voting commenced at 8:00 in the morning. Due to irregularities, the EC initially halted voting in three centres. Then, in two phases, it halted voting in 16 and then 12 centres. By the afternoon, this figure reached 50. Other than that, a returning officer also stopped the voting in one of the centres. At around 2:00 in the afternoon, CEC Kazi Habibul Awal held a meeting with three election commissioners -- Ahsan Habib Khan, Rasheda Sultana and Md Alamgir. The other election commissioner Anisur Rahman was not in the commission at the time. The decision was taken at this meeting to completely stop the voting.

Earlier, around 11:30 in the morning, other than the Awami League-backed candidate, the remaining four candidates declared a boycott of the election. And once a halt to the election was declared, Awami League leaders and activists brought out demonstrations and rallies in protest.

At around 2:30 in the afternoon, CEC Kazi Habibul Awal informed the media of the decision to stop the voting. He said, "We felt that the voting had gone out of control. One side or one contesting candidate was influencing the votes. So in our view, we felt that the voting was not neutral."

When asked why the situation had gone out of control, CEC Kazi Habibul Awal told the media, "You can see just as we can see. Outsiders are entering the confidential polling booth, the voting was not being held in an orderly manner. But we still cannot say as yet, why the situation went out of control." He also said that many people in T-shirts with the same symbol were seen casting votes.

When the newspapers asked whether the persons entering the confidential polling booths together were the 'robbers' of the voting centres, the CEC replied, "They are the robbers, the miscreants. We can call those who do not pay heed to the law, robbers. We all must be respectful towards the law. The election commission can't sit here and present a good election."

Replying to a question about how the situation will be in an election for 300 seats when there this situation arose in the election of just one seat, the CEC said, "Time will tell. Just because it didn't turn out well in one seat, doesn't mean it will be same for 300 seats. We can take up some precautions from this election."

The CEC did not clearly enunciate whether there would be a fresh schedule for this election. He said they would take a decision in keeping with the law and the regulations. The decision would be revealed later.

Earlier, the last time voting was cancelled in this manner was during the pourashava (municipal) election of Madhabdi, Narsingdi, in 2015 by the commission under Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed.

Five candidates took to the fray in this by-election to the seat that fell vacant upon the death of deputy speaker Fazle Rabbi. The contestants were Awami League candidate Mahmud Hasan, Jatiya Party (JaPa)'s AHM Golam Shaheed, Bikalpadhara's Jahangir Alam and independent candidates Nahiduzzaman and Syed Mahbubur Rahman.

The four candidates other than the contestant from Awami League, alleged that all sorts of discrepancies broke out after the voting began at 8:00 in the morning on Wednesday. Around 11:30 in the morning, at the Bagerbhita Government Primary School centre in Saghata upazila, these four candidates simultaneously declared at boycott of the election.

JaPa candidate AHM Golam Shaheed, told newspersons at the time that his agents and those of the other candidates had been ousted from the polling centres. In fact, their activists and supporters were even obstructed by ruling party men from going to the voting centres. That was why the four candidates together took the decision to boycott the election. He said, the ruling party men on the night before the election, went around to people's homes and threatened them. The police were used to harass the people. JaPa voters were warned against going to the centres. They were assaulted. They made voters use their fingerprints on the EVM, but then cast the votes as they pleased.

The other three boycotting candidate made the same complaints.

Awami League candidate Mahmud Hasan has rejected the allegations brought about by the other candidates. He told Prothom Alo, his workers and supporters hadn't ousted the agents of the other candidates not had they obstructed them. No one had issued any threats on the night before the election. He claimed that the by-election had been free and fair. The voters had cast their votes in a festive atmosphere.

Gaibandha's superintendent of police Md Touhidul Islam had the almost identical narrative. He told Prothom Alo, he had visited around 10 to 12 centres along with the deputy commissioner and the returning officer. The voting had been proceeding in an orderly and peaceful manner.

Election commission sources said that there were a total of 339,098 voters in the by-election. Voting began in 952 booths of 145 centres by means of EVM. On the day of the election, a few platoons of RAB, members of the Ansars and 1,285 members of the police had been deployed for the safety of the voters. Yet it hadn't been possible to ensure an environment conducive to voting at the by-election.

In such a situation, Sirajul Islam, convenor of the civil society platform, Gaibandha Nagorik Mancha, urged that people's faith in the elections be restored. He told Prothom Alo, if there are irregularities and rigging in the election, this must be exposed publicly so that the elections in future can be conducted in proper manner.