Rigging without resistance

Taking over the Kalirtabak Dakhil Madrasa polling station in Barguna sadar upazila, local Chhatra League and Jubo League cadres mark ballots before stuffing the ballot boxes around 1:15pm yesterday. Photo: Star

Awami League men captured polling stations, stuffed ballot boxes and drove out polling agents of rival camps in the final phase of the upazila polls yesterday, with the Election Commission and the local administration playing a mere spectator's role.
A local Jubo League leader was shot dead in Laxmipur five hours before the polling began in 73 upazilas at 8:00am.
In a separate incident, a voter died from injuries suffered in a clash between activists of the ruling AL and the Jamaat-e-Islami in Moulvibazar in the afternoon.

The man in T-shirt and lungi was thrown out of the polling centre by the presiding officer as he tried several times to cast fake votes at Nabakishaloy High School in Rupganj upazila of Narayanganj yesterday. The presiding officer then had another man, who was also trying to cast fake votes, escorted out of the polling station. It enraged the man in the T-shirt and other supporters of the ruling Awami League-backed chairman candidate and they manhandled the presiding officer. When this photojournalist tried to capture it on camera, they roughed him up as well. Photo: Amran Hossain

More than 100 people were wounded in clashes between AL and BNP supporters in at least a dozen upazilas during the polling hours.
However, violence yesterday was less intense than in the previous three phases that saw the deaths of 12 people, including those injured in pre- and post-polls violence.
As the AL men trailed the opposition-backed candidates in the first phase, they grew aggressive and engaged in violence and vote rigging in the following phases. Yet the BNP favourites led till the third phase.
In the fourth phase on March 23, ruling party men resorted to widespread violence and rigging that helped them take the lead.
The last round of polls will determine whether the AL or the BNP will prevail in the upazila elections held over a span of two months following the controversial January 5 national polls.
Yesterday, BNP-blessed candidates boycotted polls in 21 upazilas. Local units of the party called dawn-to-dusk hartals for today in at least eight upazilas, report our district correspondents.
The Election Commission postponed polls at 19 centres in five upazilas following violence and irregularities.
In Laxmipur Sadar upazila, Kabir Hossain, president of Dighali union Jubo League, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
Kabir came under attack around 3:30am while he along with others was pasting posters of the AL-backed chairman candidate on walls, said Iqbal Hossain, officer-in-charge of Sadar Police Station.
He died on the spot, said Iqbal.
AL-blessed chairman candidate AKM Salahuddin Tipu alleged that BNP men had killed Kabir.
However, Harunur Rashid, organising secretary of Laxmipur district BNP, said Kabir was killed in an intra-party clash.

The man in T-shirt and lungi was thrown out of the polling centre by the presiding officer as he tried several times to cast fake votes at Nabakishaloy High School in Rupganj upazila of Narayanganj yesterday. The presiding officer then had another man, who was also trying to cast fake votes, escorted out of the polling station. It enraged the man in the T-shirt and other supporters of the ruling Awami League-backed chairman candidate and they manhandled the presiding officer. When this photojournalist tried to capture it on camera, they roughed him up as well. Photo: Amran Hossain

Laxmipur saw widespread vote rigging yesterday.
Activists of AL-backed candidate Salauddin Tipu, son of AL leader Abu Taher, captured polling stations in Sadar upazila, driving out the agents of Tipu's opponents.
At Laxmipur Government Girls High School centre, Tipu's followers were seen forcing voters to stamp his election symbol, as polling officials and law enforcers looked on.
In Moulvibazar, a voter died from wounds he suffered when BGB personnel swooped on unruly AL and Jamaat men near a polling centre in Rajnagar upazila.
Shamim Ahmed, 45, was injured in the head and fell into a roadside pond while trying to escape the scene around 3:30pm, said Nazimuddin, officer-in-charge of Rajnagar Police Station.
The victim's brother Sharifuddin said Shamim was not involved in politics.
AL and Jamaat men were locked in a clash near Gobindabati Government Primary School polling centre over control of the station.
In another incident, 10 people were injured in a clash between Jamaat and BNP supporters at Sunadighi of the same upazila around 3:00pm.
Jamaat men led by party-backed chairman candidate MA Mannan attacked the supporters of BNP favourite Jamim Ahmed, as the latter tried to capture Sunadighi Government Primary School centre, said police.
In Tangail, AL-blessed candidates' men allegedly captured 37 polling centres and stamped ballot papers in Ghatail upazila before voting began.
Of the 13 candidates, nine, including those backed by the BNP, the Jamaat and the Jatiya Party, boycotted the election, raising allegations of capture of polling stations and stuffing by AL men.
The candidates and their supporters laid siege to the assistant returning officer's office at 9:00am and blocked the busy Tangail-Mymensingh Road, demanding re-polling in the upazila.
Around 11:30am, police fired rubber bullets and teargas shells at them, leaving five people wounded.
In Munshiganj, 16 people suffered injuries in clashes in Tongibari and Sirajdikhan upazilas.
AL and BNP activists got into a scuffle at Balai Government Primary School in Tongibari around 11:00am, forcing the election officials to suspend voting for around one-and-a-half hours.
As voting resumed at 1:45pm, the two rival camps clashed over capturing the polling station, prompting police to fire rubber bullets.
The AL-backed candidate's followers beat up two local journalists outside the Panchgaon Government Primary School in the upazila. Police detained two of the attackers.
An AL leader and two Chhatra League leaders were injured in an attack allegedly by BNP men at Abdullahpur Primary School centre.
In Chhagalnaiya upazila of Feni, supporters of AL-backed candidates occupied 30 of the 47 polling centres, and forced the agents of other aspirants to leave the stations between 8:00am and 9:00am.
A gang of armed youths exploded crude bombs and stamped 600 ballot papers around 3:30am at Pathannagar Government Primary School, said Ahmed Ulla, presiding officer at the station.
In Madarganj upazila of Jamalpur, AL men captured polling centres and drove out the agents of the BNP and Jamaat-backed candidates, and cast fake votes for AL-blessed chairman and vice chairman candidates between 8:30am and 11:00am.
The situation was different in Rangamati, where the ruling party men were at the receiving end.
Supporters of the BNP, the Jamaat and Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti attacked the AL candidates' polling agents in different polling centres in Sadar upazila.
The local AL unit called a dawn-to-dusk hartal for today to protest the attack but later called it off.
BNP men clashed with AL activists over allegations of vote rigging by ruling party men in Araihazar upazila of Narayanganj. Five supporters of both the parties were injured in the clash.
There were incidents of violence and ballot stuffing in three upazilas in Satkhira, Amtoli upazila in Barguna, Kalapara in Patuakhali, Sandwip in Chittagong, Phulchhori in Gaibandha, Kasba in Brahmanbaria and in Narsingdi Sadar upazila.
The commission's failure to check violation of electoral code of conduct and rigging in upazila elections has drawn huge criticism.
Making matters worse, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad left the country for the US on March 3 after two phases of the polls, leaving the EC bereft of leadership.
Election Commissioner Abdul Mobarak, authorised by Rakibuddin to fill in for him, has been making controversial comments, adding to doubts about the EC's ability to conduct free and fair polls.