BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today cast his vote at the Thakurgaon Government High School polling centre.
The BNP leader cast his ballot around 8:30am for the Thakurgaon-1 constituency from where he is contesting.
Voting for the general elections began at 8:00am this morning all over the country and will continue till 4:00pm.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today cast his vote at the Thakurgaon Government High School polling centre.
The BNP leader cast his ballot around 8:30am for the Thakurgaon-1 constituency from where he is contesting.
Voting for the general elections began at 8:00am this morning all over the country and will continue till 4:00pm.
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.
Leading Indian newspapers editorially commented today on the outcome of parliamentary elections in Bangladesh saying Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's return to power is "good news" for relations with India, but cautioned against her government's "authoritarian" strait.
Hindustan Times termed Awami League's landslide victory in parliamentary polls as "stunning" and The Times of India described it as "massive" while The Hindu opined Hasina "remains immensely popular" on the back of a "formidable record of economic growth and social progress."
The editorial in Hindustan Times said "in the last decade of her rule, Ms Hasina has had a mixed track record. While Bangladesh's economy has surged ahead, her record on human rights leaves a lot to be desired."
"Even as Bangladesh is on the brink of shedding its tag of least developed country, the government has crushed all opposition forces in that country. Ms Hasina's regime has harassed journalists, arrested opposition leaders and remained passive to the killing of bloggers," it said adding "New Delhi would do well to quietly remind her from time to time to keep her authoritarian instincts in check."
The Times of India editorial said "it cannot be denied that Hasina remains a hugely popular and under her Bangladesh's economy has posted strong growth …and the country is poised to join the developing countries category by 2024."
It also said "Hasina and the Awami League have a secular vision for Bangladesh …Additionally, the Awami League dispensation has cracked down hard against Islamists and local terror cells. Plus, the ties between India and Bangladesh have soared under Hasina…"
Pointing out that "Hasina's return at the helm of Bangladesh should further aid New Delhi and Dhaka ties," the Times of India said "one of the issues the opposition campaigned on, justifiably, was the increasing authoritarian ways of the Awami League government. Hasina would do well to redress this quickly. Failing to do so would provide scope for the Islamists to stage a comeback."
The Hindu commented that the Awami League "set the agenda for the election and dominated the campaign. Still, the scale of the victory would have taken even her supporters by surprise."
However, it said "the government and the Election Commission could have held the election without being open to charges that it was manipulated" and asked the Election Commission to "conduct a fair investigation into allegations of rigging to restore faith in the poll process."
"There was a crackdown on the opposition in the run-up to polling day. Pro-opposition websites were taken down, thousands of activists were jailed, and political violence was unleashed to target BNP members. The situation was so grave that even one of the election commissioners said there was no level playing field. …Her otherwise impressive record has been marred by her government's authoritarian character.
"The (election) victory is a chance for Ms. Hasina to mend her ways, to be more inclusive and run a government that respects the rule of law, the basic rights of citizens and institutional freedom," The Hindu said.
It added that "For India, Ms. Hasina's victory is good news. New Delhi and Dhaka have deepened economic, security and strategic ties under her leadership. This should continue, no matter what the general election outcome in India in 2019."
The editorial in The Economic Times said the Hasina government's "strong arm measures that give the discredited opposition the chance to cry foul were eminently avoidable."
It said "the shrinking political presence of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which backs Islamists, will ensure that the country becomes far less hospitable to Islamists."
The newspaper said Sheikh Hasina's electoral victory "is important for New Delhi in the context of countering China's influence in the region. India must continue to partner Bangladesh in its economic growth, encouraging Indian companies to invest and working together in climate change, terrorism, migration and energy."
The Election Commission will announce next week the election schedule for the 50 reserved seats for women in the 11th parliament, EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed said today.
“According to the 11th parliamentary election results, 43 seats will be reserved for Awami League while four for the Jatiya Party, one for Jatiya Oikyafront and two for the independent and other candidates,” Helal Uddin Ahmed told reporters at Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital’s Agargaon.
Besides, the upazila parishad elections will be held in phases from the first week of March, he added.
The AL-led grand alliance secured 288 seats -- the AL 257, the JP 22 and others 9 -- in the December 30 election. The BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront got only eight seats.
After Bangladesh's journey began on the path to becoming a modern democracy in 1991, many expected that electoral democracy would gain a strong footing gradually. But that hope and aspiration stumbled for the first slip at the infamous Magura-2 parliamentary by-polls on March 20, 1994. It became a symbol of a rigged election in the era of democracy, which seemed to have been restored after Ershad's autocratic regime came crashing down.
That by-election brought two issues to the fore: that a free and fair election was not possible under a partisan government, and that the Election Commission was not free at all under a political government. The by-polls helped the Awami League-led opposition parties of that time to intensify their campaign for the introduction of a non-partisan, election-time government.
In the face of a strong campaign launched by the opposition, a caretaker government provision was introduced in the constitution and, subsequently, four national elections were held under non-partisan caretaker governments. Those elections were, by and large, free from the controversy of vote-rigging and ballot-stuffing. But the caretaker government system was annulled from the constitution following a court verdict. And we saw a resumption of the old tactics of vote rigging, with polling centres being run over by party cadres, ousting of polling agents, stuffing and snatching of ballot boxes, and intimidation of voters.
Then came the two controversial national elections of 2014 and 2018. While the BNP boycotted the 2014 election, the 2018 election saw 153 ruling-party-aligned candidates elected uncontested amid widespread allegations of irregularities. There were allegations that ballot boxes were stuffed the night before the election, and the opposition camp lost the election even before voting had begun.
In recent times, we have also witnessed voter turnouts gradually declining, which is surely an ominous sign for democracy.
After around three decades, if we look back at that fateful by-election of Magura, we would realise that the situation has not changed much. It happened again at the Gaibandha-5 by-election. The issue of by-elections came into discussion once again when seven BNP lawmakers – the only BNP candidates who had managed to win in 2018 – resigned. After their resignation, the Election Commission announced the election schedule, and the ruling Awami League and the main opposition in parliament, the Jatiya Party, nominated their respective candidates. But the Brahmanbaria-2 by-poll stole the show as a former BNP leader (after having been expelled from his party), Ukil Abdus Sattar, contested the election as an independent candidate.
Sattar had been elected five times from the constituency and had been state minister as a technocrat. His loyalty to the party was unquestionable. Following an order from the party high command, he had resigned from parliament, but made a surprise turn-around as he decided to contest the by-election as an independent candidate, in turn getting himself expelled from the BNP. The belief held in his constituency is that Sattar is contesting the polls for two reasons – first, he was trapped by the government and second, out of fear that he would not get the party ticket for the next election as he is over 83 years old.
Another reason is that BNP leader Rumeen Farhana has a high probability of getting the party nomination in the next election from that constituency. For Sattar, his political future is almost ending. Many in the constituency have also said that it is actually Sattar's son who is trying to "make his future" through this by-election.
This particular by-election attracted further attention when all three ruling Awami League aspirants – it was open to anyone interested to run – withdrew their candidacy following the directions of party high-ups. It turned out to be a cakewalk for Sattar. On AL's part, it was presumably a good gesture to let a senior politician of the opposing camp have a last hurrah, since he is most likely at the twilight of a long and distinguished career. However, it is so rare that this incident is certain to go down in history as a very likely one-off where the ruling party favoured an opposition candidate.
The ruling Awami League has repeatedly said that the next election will be a free, fair, and inclusive one. BNP sent a strong message through the resignation of its lawmakers, saying that it was not making empty threats when saying that the party would not join any elections under the incumbent government. And Awami League appeared to have countered this with a tactic of sending a message to BNP aspirants, saying they might get an open field if they break away and run during the elections. Then, Awami League could claim the elections to be inclusive and also be certain of retaining office.
It is often said that in politics, there is no last word. Through Sattar's participation, the ruling Awami League will try to prove a few things, particularly that BNP's decision to resign from the parliament was wrong, and will send a message to BNP leaders and aspirants that they may have a chance in the next polls if they betray their party and create a few cracks in what has so far remained steadfast determination. It is perhaps BNP's biggest achievement of the last 15 years that the party remained intact, with none of its stalwarts breaking away. But Sattar's election may have an impact.
But one must wonder whether this move was indeed a good strategy for the ruling party. Is politics just a voting game? Should there not be moral or ideological practices in politics? After all, the one thing politicians must keep in mind is that once someone is labelled as a traitor, it hangs around their neck like the fabled albatross.
BNP had to rig the Magura by-polls in 1994 to back their claim that their popularity had not decreased. Three decades later, the AL took on a different strategy and let an independent candidate win to coax out aspirants from BNP's fold. In 1994, although BNP won the polls, it was defeated in politics. The Awami League might console itself with a self-congratulatory chuckle thanks to Sattar's victory. It might almost seem that the Awami League has manipulated a win in the first skirmish. But will such a stratagem or tactic win them the war?
Mohammad Al-Masum Molla is deputy chief reporter at The Daily Star.
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.
গত ভোররাতে এই হামলার প্রতিশোধ হিসেবে পাঁচটি ভারতীয় জেট বিমান ভূপাতিত করার দাবি করেছে পাকিস্তানের সামরিক বাহিনী।
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. 
