'How could The Daily Star come here?'

"Alert them, alert them!"

As two journalists from this newspaper entered a polling station inside Government Science College in Farmgate, Dhaka, to watch the final hour of voting, a voice cried out from behind them.

There were only a few minutes remaining before the voting in the 12th parliamentary election was supposed to end at 4:00pm.

Members of Bangladesh Police, Bangladesh Ansar, and Village Defence Party hurried past the two as the law enforcers made their way to the polling booths on the second floor of the college building to alert the presiding officer to their arrival.

Soon after, a grin appeared on the face of Presiding Officer Muhammad Hasanuzzaman Hasan, who led the two of them to the rooms where the voting booths were located.

Inside, the journalists found no voters. Rather, a few young people hurriedly left, clearly in a rush to get away.

As of 2:00pm, Hasanuzzaman reported that 450 votes had been counted. There were 1,695 registered voters at the polling centre.

The journalists went into another polling centre at Dhaka Polytechnic Institute after a while.

There were small groups of men and women outside, many of them wearing little cards with writing in support of the boat -- the electoral symbol of the ruling Awami League -- around their necks on lanyards.

The institute's large campus appeared to be devoid of voters.

The two parted ways to go through separate gates and enter the structure that housed the polling booths. Again, groups of young people were seen wandering aimlessly through the verandas, stairs, and rooms.

A man approached a member of the Ansar staff and asked if he could vote. The answer was negative. The time on the clock read 4:20pm, 20 minutes past the voting deadline.

One of the reporters found a room with a gathering of men, mainly young ones, gathered around a person who appeared to be a polling official scribbling on a paper.

When one of the men realised the journalist was taking pictures, he yelled, "Everyone out!" at the other men.

And all the young men turned around and left as if by clockwork.

A number of people voiced their frustration as the journalists were leaving the property.

"How did The Daily Star manage to get here? They have entered and we don't know anything," a middle-aged man yelled.

A group of angry youths abruptly surrounded the journalist at the gate, demanding that their photo be removed and claiming they had no right to take it.

When the discussion heated up, two middle-aged men stepped in and persuaded the assembly to allow them to leave.

The journalists arrived at Niketon Society, another Gulshan polling centre, about ten minutes later. The journalists observed the votes being counted in a room after the polls had clearly ended.

The presiding officer ushered the two inside. The journalists preferred to move on to another centre.

They arrived at Government Titumir College in Mohakhali ten or twelve minutes later. Inside, kids were having fun on a vast playground. There was a group of women coming out.

A bearded man emerged a short while later and tacked a piece of paper to a wall outside the polling booth building while the journalists waited for the presiding officer's approval to enter one of the two buildings.

Out of the 3,107 voters of the centre, 390 cast their ballots. Eight votes were cancelled.

The Awami League candidate Mohammad A. Arafat received 339 votes.