‘Never seen polls with so few voters’
Ghorai Chandra Das, an Ansar member stationed at Fulbaria Govt Primary School centre, has been providing security during national elections for the last 40 years.
"I have never seen polls being held with so few voters," he told this correspondent yesterday.
"Even in the 2014 and 2018 elections, I saw a good number of voters standing in queues. But this time, there was no queue here for the whole day, only a few voters came and cast their votes," he added.
The centre had a final voter turnout of 13.9 percent, which is actually decent compared to what the correspondent observed till 2:00pm.
Amid the poor turnout, presiding officer of the centre, Md Tarek Hossain, was seen looking for any voters waiting outside.
Visiting around 36 polling centres in Dhaka-2 and Dhaka-19 constituencies, our correspondents saw a similar scenario.
None of the centres had any voter queue. Except for two centres in the Ashulia area, the others had less than 20 percent voter turnout till around 2:00pm.
At the other centers, including Al Nasir Laboratory School, Legend International School in Dhaka-2, and Islamia Kamil Madrasa, Savar Govt College, Gurat Govt Primary School, Jahangirnagar University School and College, Radio Colony Model School and College, Central Laboratory School and College, and Sunflower Model Schoo in Dhaka-19, no voter queue was seen.
Election officials at the booths were seen gossiping among themselves, while on-duty Ansar and police personnel were passing time idly.
Also, polling agents of only AL candidates were seen at the centres.
Dendabor Kindergarten School and College, and Gurat Govt Primary School centres in Ashulia were the only two exceptions, with 40 percent and 28 percent voter turnout respectively till 12 pm.
A significant number of supporters of candidates with "boat" and "eagle" symbols were seen gathered outside these two centres wearing their badges.
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