Highest turnout

The turnout in ninth parliamentary election is the highest ever in the history of Bangladesh with little possibility of fake votes having been cast due to the new system with a voter roll that had photographs to confirm one's identity.
Analysing the percentage of votes cast in 299 constituencies, the Election Commission (EC) this morning forecast that the turnout is most likely to exceed 85 percent, a staggering 10 percent higher than the previous record.
"In many constituencies in the rural areas, turnout is in between 85 to 90 percent. In some constituencies the turnout is as high as 94 percent. In metropolitan areas, particularly in Dhaka and Chittagong, the turnout however was lower, but above 70 percent," Humayun Kabir, secretary to the EC Secretariat, said this morning while wrapping up the announcement of unofficial election results in 295 constituencies out of 299.
"So overall, the voters' turnout will most likely to exceed 85 percent," he said regarding the turnout on Monday when people all over the country joined the polls with enthusiasm and in a festive mood without facing any major intimidation.
For instance, according to unofficial results, Comilla-1 constituency witnessed a turnout of 84.3 percent, Comilla-2 84.4 percent, Comilla-3 85.86 percent, Comilla-4 86.9 percent, Comilla-5 84.17 percent, Comilla-9 87.93 percent, Chandpur-5 87.87 percent, Chandpur-1 87.46 percent, Feni-1 79.8 percent, Feni-2 81.25 percent and Feni-3 84.88 percent.
The returning officers (ROs) of these constituencies mentioned the percentage of turnout in the result sheets they sent immediate after completion of counting of ballots, though most of the other ROs did not mention any figures in this regard while filing their result sheets.
They have however been asked to send the turnout figures in detail now.
The EC will formally announce the turnout figure tomorrow when the chief election commissioner talks to the media.
The highest turnout record previously was 75.59 percent in the October 2001 polls in which the BNP-Jamaat led alliance won over two-thirds majority. In the June 12, 1996 election, turnout was 74.96 percent, while in 1991 it was 55.45 percent.
According to the EC's report on Election 2008, these are the three most contested polls in the nation's election history since restoration of parliamentary democracy through a mass upsurge against military ruler HM Ershad.
But these elections were all questioned as many fake votes were cast because of the absence of effective mechanisms to check any fraudulent activities.
But this time round, the EC prepared a voter list with photographs, sealing the possibility of casting fake votes.
However, several people were not able to cast their votes on Monday due to technical complexities in the new system of voter list with photographs.