Ctg-10 by-polls: Voter presence thin; EC monitoring through CCTV cameras
CCTV cameras have been installed in every polling station
Voter presence remains thin in the Chattogram-10 by-polls as the Election Commission closely monitors polling stations through CCTV cameras
Voting began at 8am and will continue till 4pm on Sunday (30 July) with electronic voting machines (EVMs) at 1251 booths in 156 centres.
As of the latest update at 10:45am, the voter turnout remains low, with only 4% of the 2920 eligible voters casting their ballots at the Pahartali College centre.
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Meanwhile, the New Tiger Pass Govt Primary School centre witnessed 250 votes out of 2319 by 10:05am.
In the Nasirabad Government Boys High School centre no 16 and 17 at 9am, no agent for any candidate was found except for the representatives of the Awami League.
"Although six candidates are contesting in the election, no candidate's agent came except Boat's," said GM Ahsan Habib, presiding officer of centre no 16.
The voter turnout in centre no 17, after one hour, reached 22 people out of a total of 2,689 registered voters, while centre no 16 recorded 50 votes by 9:30am, with just two votes cast in booth no 3. The total number of voters in centre number 16 is 3,166.
There were only Awami League agents in the Bidyut Unnayan Board High School centre at Monsurabad also, a relatively larger one consisting of 6 voting centres.
Shahadat Kabir, the presiding officer of centre no 110, informed The Business Standard that out of 3382 voters, only 142 cast votes as of 12pm.
CCTV cameras have been installed in every polling station. The total number of voters in Chattogram-10 constituency is 4,88,638.
"I hope that the election will be held in a fair and organised manner. The polling stations are being monitored by CCTV cameras from the conference room of the Election Commission and the returning officer," said Chattogram district senior election officer Jahangir Hossain.
He added, "'We have collected polling data once at 9am. Voter turnout is low but there is no problem."
Presiding officers will send further polling data at 12pm and 4pm, according to Jahangir.
The total number of voters in the Chittagong Metropolitan Police School polling station are 4,650. Till 11:50 AM, the total voter turnout was only 4.6%.
Robin Kishore, presiding officer of the polling station, told TBS, "The total number of booths in this centre is 11. Voter turnout is low since morning. However, the turnout is increasing as the day progresses."
Chittagong Polytechnic Institute has a total of 3 polling stations. The library building centre has 2,874 voters. Presiding officer Suman Shikder said that 135 votes were cast in the centre till 10am. There are a total of 8 booths in the centre.
The total number of voters is 4,596 in the polling station on the second floor of Chittagong Polytechnic Institute. Presiding officer Abdus Salam said that only 2% of the voters had cast their votes till 11am.
The total number of voters in the computer building centre of Polytechnic Institute is 3,339. Presiding Officer Rabiul Hasan said that a total of 8% votes have been cast in this centre till 11 am.
30-year-old Nuruzzaman, who came to vote at Pahartali College, said he was able to vote without any trouble.
"It is great to be able to vote in EVMs," he said.
Authorities call on people to vote using mosque mic
Meanwhile, due to thin presence, voters were called to the polling centres using the mic of mosque in Badurtala.
"It is being informed to the general public of the area that those of you who have not voted yet are specially requested to go to the centre and vote soon," authorities urged the people using the mic of Badurtala Jangi Shah Mazar Mosque under Panchlaish police station of the city on Sunday around 10:30am.
The distance from the mosque to the polling station in Renaissance School and College is less than half a kilometre. But despite that only 106 voters voted in that centre till two in the afternoon.
The presiding officer of the centre, Mohammad Waliullah told The Business Standard, "The number of voters in the centre is 3,705. But attendance is very low. 17 people voted till 10am. Then we opted for calling the people to come to vote using the mosque mic. It is now 2 o'clock; 106 people voted. We told those who were crowding inside the centre to bring voters instead of crowding."
When asked about this, Imam Abdur Rahman of the Jangi Shah Mazar Mosque told TBS, "Yesterday and today, I called on the voters to go to the voter centre on the mosque's mic because of the mosque committee's request."
Voter turnout was relatively low in most of the polling stations in the city, not only Renaissance School and College Centre.
247 people cast their votes in center number 16 of Chittagong Nasirabad Government Boys High School till two o'clock in the afternoon. The number of voters in this centre is 3,166. Similarly, 299 people voted till 2pm at Nasirabad Government Primary School Centre. The number of voters in this centre is 2,689.
Six candidates are competing for the Chattogram-10 parliamentary seat, while the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has chosen not to participate in the by-election.
The participants are Awami L-nominated Mohiuddin Bacchu, Jatiya Party candidate Md Samsul Alam, Trinamool BNP candidate Deepak Kumar Palit, Rashid Mia of Bangladesh Cultural Liberation Alliance, independent candidate Manjurul Islam Bhuiyan and Md Arman Ali.
According to Chattogram Regional Electoral Officer's office, 8 executive magistrates and 2 judicial magistrates have been assigned the responsibility of maintaining law and order in the electoral area and providing legal instructions to the law enforcement forces including mobile and striking forces.
In general centres, 16 to 17 policemen and Ansars are on duty, while important centres have 17 to 18 police-Ansars on duty to ensure a smooth voting process and security during the by-election.
Chattogram-10 seat fell vacant following the death of the Awami League's Afsarul Ameen on 2 June.
Only AL candidate's agents are seen in the centres
Although there were 6 candidates in the election, no other candidate's agents, workers and posters were seen except for the AL-backed candidate.
Only Awami League, Jubo League, and Chhatra League leaders and activists of various levels were seen outside the polling stations.
In none of the three centres of Pahartali College, CMP School, and Polytechnic Institute in the city, the agents of other candidates were seen.
Visiting the various booths of the centres, only boat polling agents were seen on duty.
The presiding officer of each polling station said that only the agents of the rival candidates had come to the polling stations.
Other candidates' agents did not come. Only boat candidates have booths outside polling stations to collect voters' numbers, they added.
