‘No centre had 100% votes cast’

The biggest achievement of using the electronic voting machine (EVM) is that no centre had 100 percent votes cast in this election, said Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukdar in a written speech released on Saturday.

In the statement, Mahbub said, "I cast my vote at Ispahani Girls School and College centre at 11 am. Journalists told me that agents of the mayoral candidate of the opposition party were there, but were forced out. However, there was no chance to verify the allegation."

"I visited 12 centres between 10:30am and 2pm and only saw agents of the ruling party's mayoral candidate. Only 10 percent votes were cast in these centres from 8am to 1:30pm."

"Ever since the announcement of the election schedule, attempts of disruption have badly disheartened me," said Mahbub.

"There was no scope of ballot stuffing the night before. So no one can hold us responsible for tampering with the ballots. The latest news says that less than 25 percent votes were cast in both the city corporation elections. But does that affect the result at all?" 

"The election was peaceful except for a few isolated incidents of violence. There were only agents from one party at the centres. We don't know why others were not there."