Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader today called upon the Jatiya Oikyafront leaders elected in the 11th parliamentary election to take oath accepting people’s verdict.

“I still think that they (Oikyafront) would not dishonour the people’s verdict,” Quader made the call while addressing a press conference at AL President Sheikh Hasina’s Dhanmondi political office in Dhaka this afternoon.

Claiming that BNP made a mistake by not taking part in the January 5, 2014 national election, Quader suggested the Oikyafront leaders not to recur the similar mistake by staying aside from the oath-taking.

BNP yesterday hinted that their leaders elected in the polls will not take oath as they have already rejected the results, alleging mass irregularities including ballot stuffing and ouster of their polling agents from voting centres.

However, Quader said, “This time, it is their (Oikyafront) own matter whether they are satisfied with the people’s verdict.” Quader said that their leaders have also won the election with the people’s mandates.

The Oikyafront yesterday in its formal reaction over the election announced that they would submit memorandum to the Election Commission on Thursday and announce next course of action programme to press home their demand.

Responding to a query in this regard, Quader, also road transport and bridges minister, said BNP does not have any preparation to wage a movement in the country.

“Did you (Journalist) see their (BNP leaders) faces yesterday how nerves and frustrated they were? They have lost their moral strength, how their workers can be rejuvenated by them?” he said.

Responding to a query over the government’s next challenges, he said the government’s main challenge is to implement the manifesto they placed before the election.   

The parliamentary election of Kishoreganj-1 constituency will be held on February 28.

Election Commission Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed announced the schedule at a press briefing after a meeting at the Nirbachan Bhaban this evening.

The constituency has been vacant since January 3 as Syed Ashraful Islam, also former public administration minister, passed away at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok.

His death came just four days after he was elected MP in December 30 parliamentary election from Kishoreganj-1.

The EC Secretary also said the election will be considered as the fresh election as newly elected lawmaker from the seat Syed Ashraful Islam died before taking oath.

As per the schedule, the last date for submission of nomination paper has been fixed January 31, while nomination scrutiny on February 3 and last date for nomination withdrawal on February 10.

BNP today blasted the ruling Awami League for celebrating its victory in the 11th parliamentary election; saying it was a mockery with the people.

“What the Awami League did yesterday is nothing but utterly ridiculous,” BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed said today.

They picked crores of money out of the pockets of the public to hold a so-called rally, he said at a press conference at BNP’s headquarters in Nayapaltan.

“Now, when we are recovering from the horrific news of Parul Begum for voting for the Sheaf of Paddy in Noakhali’s Subarnachar, we heard another such news of local Jubo League activists gang-raping a mother of three,” Rizvi said.

After a fake victory in the election, their leaders and activists have become reckless and indulged in diabolical oppression and repression, Rizvi said.

Expressing grave concern over such repressive acts, Rizvi said that no government can sustain in power without the people’s mandate.

The Election Commission touted the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) as a foolproof alternative to the traditional method of ballot paper, but that too fell prey to sweeping abuse yesterday.

Some 5,045 EVMs were deployed in 845 polling centres in six constituencies -- Dhaka-6 and -13, Chattogram 9, Rangpur 3, Khulna 2 and Satkhira 2 -- and the common complaint of voters was that their ballots were cast by someone else in their presence.

This was feared by majority of the registered parties, including the BNP and its allies, who said the deployment of the instrument would facilitate “the government's plan for election engineering”.

Voters are in a queue at Rayerbazar Community Centre in Dhaka city on Sunday, December 30, 2018. Photo: Sujit Sarker

Another problem with the new voting method used during the 11th general elections was that polling was halted for several hours at many booths for malfunctioning units.

In theory, the EVMs would be activated by the voter's smart card, voter number or national identification number.

The voter would then have to use his/her fingerprint for verification purpose and then proceed to cast vote on the balloting unit, which would be kept in a separate room.

As a result, the voting process would be immune to rigging. When the system worked as it was supposed to, the voting experience was quick and fuss-free, many said.

But what transpired for the most part yesterday was far from it: party activists preyed on voters, most of whom were unfamiliar with the workings of the EVM.

Take the case of Rahima Begum, a resident of CRB area under Kotwali Thana of Chattogram. She was eagerly looking forward to voting on the EVM, but her curiosity turned to despair at the polling booth.

A lady offered to guide her through the use of EVM. “She took my fingerprint and asked me to leave,” the 45-year-old told The Daily Star.

The confirmation on computer after successfully voting in EVM. Photo: Star/Sujit Sarker

She was told her voting was completed, much to her bewilderment. “When I tried to know on which symbol the vote was cast, they simply told me to leave,” Rahima added.

Similar accounts were heard from Khulna-2 constituency, particularly from female voters.

An excited Shelly Begum arrived to cast her vote at Sher-e-Bangla Primary School but a young lady pressed the button to cast the vote on the EVM -- before Shelly could do it herself.

“I could not cast my vote because of that lady,” said an annoyed Shelly.

Sarmin Sultana had a similar experience when she went to vote around 1:00pm. Two women of Awami League tried to enter the voting room with her to guide her through the process.

But when she declined their help, they dragged her out of the centre.

When it was not the case of unwitting voters being exploited, it was the party activists themselves who proceeded to cast votes for absentee voters on the EVM with the help of presiding officers.

Our correspondent visited Wari Girls' Government Primary School at about 2:20pm and saw a young man giving voting numbers to the polling officer, who was inputting the numbers on the EVM one by one.

The voters' profiles were flashing on the screen -- and none of the photos that came up matched with the faces nearby. The young man was using his fingerprint to unlock the voting page for the numbers and understandably they would not match.

Then another man swooped in and used his fingerprint, which unlocked the voting page. Soon after, the correspondent saw that the screen was flashing the message: 'Your voting has been completed'.

When the fingerprints do not match on the EVM, the assistant presiding officers have the authority to unlock the system for 25 percent of the cases.

The correspondent then went to Sher-e-Bangla Balika Mahavidyalaya next, where he saw a similar sight.

In fact, it was more pronounced here: almost all the polling booths had someone else casting votes on behalf of others.

The correspondent approached the presiding officer Shahidur Rahman Khan in his cabin and informed him of the incidents. “I do not know anything of this nature,” he said.

Similar scenes of the system being gamed were seen at the voting centres of Dhaka-6.

At about 3:00pm at Kamrunnesa Government Girls High School, a lady was complaining at the top of her voice that her vote had already been cast. Agitated, she went to the presiding officer to inform of the foul play, but it came to no use.

The correspondent then went up to the polling officer, who seemed resigned to what was unfolding at venue. “There is nothing I can do about it,” he said, requesting anonymity.

Another correspondent arrived at the Sutrapur Community Centre 10 minutes before polls closed and found the venue buzzing with people.

Security forces came in and asked everyone except the polling agents to leave. A swarm of people rushed to leave the venue, and all were wearing badges of the Grand Alliance.

Asked about the large presence of people with no EC passes, the polling agent Fahad said: “It's because the EVM is complicated to use -- we had volunteers to guide them through the process.”

Over at Dhaka-13, voting was paused at six booths in five centres for two to six hours for malfunctioning EVMs. Those who arrived in that time frame had to leave without voting.

The Daily Star visited 17 centres in the constituency and found several machines were unable to read fingerprints.

At Mohammadpur Girls High School, a man complained that polling agents wearing 'Boat' badges were shadowing voters to the balloting room and intimidating them to cast their vote for Awami League.

Awami League candidate Sadek Khan was contesting against BNP's Abdus Salam and Jatiya Party's Shafiqul Islam for the seat.

Voting was still going on at the venue at around 4:15pm.

The assistant presiding officer was seen helping five youths unlock the voting system with his fingerprint. As a photographer tried to take a picture, a youth wearing the 'Boat' badge threatened her and told her to leave.

Over at Satkhira-2, EVMs in two booths of Mridanga and Rajnagar centres were not functioning from the onset. The devices were flown in by helicopter to Dhaka for repair. They were not returned to booths until 3:00pm, our correspondent reported.

A similar incident took place at Nurpur Government Primary School of Rangpur-3 constituency. After being repaired in Dhaka, the EVM was flown in to the venue at about 4:00pm, when voting started again and went on until 6:00pm.

But it was not all bad news: many voters quite enjoyed casting their votes with the EVM.

“It took all of three minutes to cast my vote,” said Mohammad Sohel, a 30-year-old voter after casting his vote at Suritola Model Government Primary School.

Just two buttons need to be pressed to cast one's vote, said Osama Rahman, a young voter.

“It's just so easy to use,” he added.

Delwar Hossain Khokon, a 40-year-old, waxed lyrical about the system after casting his vote at Banglabazar Government Primary School.

“It is a good system if there are no anomalies in voting,” he said.

Re-balloting at three polling centres under Brahmanbaria-2 constituency, where voting was suspended during the December 30 election, will be held today.

In case of 100 percent turnout of 10,574 voters, BNP candidate Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan needs 208 votes while his nearest rival independent contender Moyeenuddin Moyeen needs 10,367 votes to win the election.

The three election centres are Jatrapur Govt Primary School, Bahadurpur Govt Primary School and Sohagpur Dakkhin Govt Primary School.

Re-voting is necessary as the margin of votes between Sattar and Moyeenuddin is 10,159, less than the total votes at the three centres.