Election Commission (EC) Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed today said the 11th parliamentary election held on Sunday will remain as a ‘bright example’ in national life.

“This is a huge event in the history of Bangladesh as the voting to the 11th parliamentary election took place in a very free, fair and peaceful environment under a political government,” he told reporters at the EC Secretariat here on the outcomes of the election.

He said many local and foreign observers have expressed their satisfaction over the voting.

Helal said the Awami League-led Grand Alliance gained a massive victory in this election to run the government for a straight three terms.

He also informed the media that so far the results to some 298 constituencies out of 300 have been announced since the election to three centres at Brahmanbaria-2 has been withheld. “There’ll be re-voting in these three centres.”

In Gaibandha-3 constituency polling was postponed as Dr ATM Fazle Rabbi of BNP-led 20-party alliance candidate died of old-age complications.

The EC Secretary extended gratitude to all the political parties, including Awami League, for taking part in this election amid festivity.

He said the Commission was taking preparations over the last one year to hold the election in a successful way and in this process they prepared voters list, completed delimitation of 300 constituencies, appointed the returning officers and assistant returning officers after announcement of the polls schedule, and held meetings with political parties.

Helal Uddin said about 15 lakh polling officials and members of law enforcement agencies were engaged to help hold the election in a free and fair manner with the participation of some 39 political parties and 1,846 candidates.

This election was a huge event in national life except some sporadic incidents as the EC has stopped polling at 22 centres for sporadic clashes and incidents out of the overall number of around 40,000 centres, he said quoting Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda as saying.

About the EVM use in voting, the EC Secretary said EVMs were used in six constituencies and there were curiosity, interest and anxiety over the use of these machines.

“But, we’ve been able to successfully use the EVMs…we’ll use EVMs in the upcoming elections. We will consider on how to get the results from these EVMs much earlier in the future,” he added.

Helal Uddin said the Commission is yet to calculate the overall percentage of votes casted in this election, adding their next big task will be to publish the gazette notification of the election results.

“Thus it will hand over it to the Speaker of Parliament for taking next steps and proceedings.”

The EC Secretary congratulated the Awami League for gaining the overwhelming victory side by side thanked the other political parties to cooperate with the EC for holding this election successfully.

Most of the lawmakers-elect of the Jatiya Party yesterday said the party should join the Awami League-led new government.

The opinion came at a joint meeting of JP presidium members and MPs-elect at the party chief's Banani office, JP Co-chairman GM Quader told reporters after the meeting.

The party's parliamentary body will decide its role in the 11th parliament.

“Our newly elected MPs will join the parliamentary party meeting tomorrow [today] after taking the oath,” Quader added.

Meanwhile, the oath-taking ceremony of MPs-elect will be held at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban today, said a parliament secretariat press release yesterday. 

At 11:00am, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will administer the oath.

At the briefing, Quader said, “The parliamentary party meeting will decide what will be the Jatiya Party's role in parliament, considering the interest of the country and the grand alliance."

He added that they would talk about the issue with the alliance after the meeting.

“We are in the grand alliance and contested the election with the alliance partners with identical goals. So, we'll finalise all the decisions through discussions."

The JP co-chairman, who presided over yesterday's meeting, said they discussed the country's political situation at the joint meeting.

Party Secretary General Moshiur Rahman Ranga said they would take some organisational steps to strengthen the party.

He added that parliamentary party members would sit with the AL-led grand alliance to determine the party's role in parliament.

JP Chairman HM Ershad and Senior Co-chairman Raushan Ershad were not present at the meeting.

On Tuesday, Moshiur said they would decide yesterday whether they would remain as the opposition or part of government in the House.

OFFICIAL POLLS RESULTS

In another development, the Election Commission yesterday in its official results said the AL bagged 257 seats and the JP 22 seats in Sunday's national election.

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda at a post-election press conference on Monday and EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed at the end of announcement of unofficial results of the polls said the AL won in 259 constituencies and the JP in 20.

EC officials said they made the mistake while preparing the list of all winning candidates hurriedly.

The commission yesterday published a gazette notification of all 298 winning candidates.

According to the official results of the December 30 polls, the AL-led grand alliance bagged 288 seats while the BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront got seven.

Voting was suspended at three polling stations in Brahmanbaria-2 over violence. Voting in those centres will be held on January 9.

Election in Gaibandha-3 was rescheduled for January 27 after Oikyafront candidate TIM Fazley Rabbi died on December 20.

The BNP had as many as 141 nominations rejected while their rival the ruling Awami League only had three, sources in the Election Commission said. 

The BNP nominated 696 leaders in 295 seats as part of its strategy to field multiple candidates in almost all constituencies. It opted for this strategy fearing some candidates would be rejected by the EC on various grounds, including conviction in cases and defaulting on loans.

The ruling AL fielded 281 candidates in 264 constituencies with multiple candidates in 17 seats.

According to an EC statement, the returning officers during scrutiny on Sunday rejected 786 (25.64 percent) of the 3,065 nominations on the grounds of being convicted, defaulting on loans, and non-payment of utility bills.

In the 2008 parliamentary polls, the ROs rejected 557 (22.64 percent) of 2,460 nominations.

Aspirants, whose nominations were rejected, can appeal to the EC by tomorrow. The EC would start hearing the appeals from Thursday.

BNP leader Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin, Gonoforum candidate Reza Kibria and 82 others have appealed to the EC yesterday.

Nasiruddin's nomination was rejected for being convicted in a graft case in 2008 and Kibria's was rejected for failing to pay the fee for a credit card.

The BNP may file appeals today or tomorrow against the ROs decision to reject all three nominations of its Chairperson Khaleda Zia, party sources said.

Khaleda has been in jail since February 8 after being sentenced to five years in prison in a graft case. She was also sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in another corruption case in October.

She filed three nominations -- Bogura-6, -7 and Feni-1.

Meanwhile, most of the 23 candidates rejected in Rajshahi did not get the certified copy of the rejections even yesterday.

The document is required for an appeal to be filed with the EC.

According to EC sources, the Jatiya Party had filed 233 nominations and 38 of them were rejected.

At least three dozen dissidents of ruling AL were rejected by the ROs, a blessing for the ruling party. The party still has over three dozen more rebels to deal with, said a senior AL leader.

He said the party, this time, will not hesitate to take stern action against dissidents. AL high command would try to ensure that the remaining dissidents quit on or before December 9, the last day for withdrawal of candidature.

“If needed, the prime minister will intervene … one thing is sure that the rebels will not be returning to the party, even if they win,” said the leader.

An activist of ruling Awami League (AL), who was injured in an attack allegedly by BNP men at a Rajshahi polling centre on election day, succumbed this morning.

With his death, the death toll from polls-violence reached 19.

Ismail Hossain, 50, died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital where he was admitted after the attack, reports our Rajshahi correspondent quoting Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal, a senior doctor of the hospital’s ICU.

Deceased Ismail was the president of AL’s Election Steering Committee of Daogaon union in Godagari upazila.

He was attacked by BNP activists at Palpur Government Primary School polling centre in Godagari yesterday afternoon, said Abdur Razzak Khan, additional superindent of police in Rajshahi.

HOW MAY PEOPLE KILLED ON ELECTION DAY?

Election violence claimed at least 18 lives yesterday, making it one of the deadliest polls in the country.

Among the dead, eight people were of AL and four of BNP.

WHAT IS THE ELECTION RESULT?

AL President Sheikh Hasina has led her party to a third consecutive win in parliamentary polls, securing two-third majority in yesterday's election held in an atmosphere dominated by the ruling party men. 

Hasina is set to become the prime minister for the third straight time -- an unprecedented feat in the country's history.