EVM seat sees significantly lower turnout than others

The numbers from Sunday's parliamentary polls in Khulna indicate that voters turned out in droves to exercise their rights, with the exception of the one constituency where electronic voting took place.

In Khulna-2 (Sadar-Sonadanga), where Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) were used in all polling centres, voter turnout was recorded at 49.4 percent, while in all five other constituencies of the district, the number ranged between 74 and 85 percent.

Awami League's dominance was clear in the district, with two out the six candidates of the party securing over 90 percent of the votes cast, and three others securing 80 percent or more.

In Khulna-2, a total of 1,45,320 votes were cast out of 2,94,116 in 157 centres. No vote was invalidated in this seat, as all of them were cast electronically.

AL candidate Sheikh Salauddin Jewel got 1,12,200 votes (77.21 percent) while his nearest rival BNP candidate Nazrul Islam Monju bagged 27,379 votes (18.84 percent).

Interestingly, Monju had got 1,08,956 votes in the mayoral election for the city corporation on May 14, 2018.

As per the primary data sheet of returning officer (RO), 82.33 percent of total votes was cast in Khulna-1 (Batiaghata-Dacope). A total of 2,13,587  votes were cast, of which 1,399 was invalid.

AL candidate Panchanon Biswas bagged 1,72,152 votes (81.13 percent) while his rival, BNP candidate Amir Ezaz Khan, got 28,322 votes (13.35 percent). 

Some newspapers had reported that the final tally of votes was 22,000 more than the total number of voters in Khulna-1. However, RO Md Helal Hossain denied such allegations, and said it was a rumour. He also gave official data to journalists yesterday.

KHULNA-3

Total votes cast in the constituency was 2,26,281, which is 73.96 percent of total registered voters. Of the votes cast, AL candidate Begum Monnujan Sufian bagged 1,34,806  (81.33 percent) votes, while BNP candidate Rokibul Islam Bokul got 23,606 (14.24 percent). A total of 1,616 votes were invalidated.

KHULNA-4

Total votes cast in the constituency was 2,47,464, which, converted to percentage, stands at 79.70. Of those, AL candidate Abdus Salam Murshedi bagged 2,23,311 (90.88 percent) votes, while his BNP counterpart Azizul Bari Helal received 14,187 that (5.77 percent) of the total votes cast. The number of votes declared invalid in the seat was 1,753.

KHULNA-5

In this constituency, 2,72,033 votes were cast, that is 78.97 percent of the total number of voters in the seat. AL candidate Narayan Chandra Chanda got 2,31,717 votes (85.84 percent), while his rival candidate Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mia Golam Porwer got 32,959 (12.21 percent) votes. Some 2,101 votes were annulled.

KHULNA-6

The number of votes cast in the constituency was 3,11,460, or 85.04 of the total. Of these, AL candidate Akhteruzzaman got 2,84,349 votes (92.04 percent) compared to his nearest contestant, Jamaat's Abul Kalam Azad's 19,257 (6.24 percent). The constituency also saw 2,921 votes being void.