Presiding and polling officers, polling agents and law enforcement officials were present at every polling centre in the Mirpur-Kafrul area yesterday, but there were very few voters.
Voting in the Dhaka 15 constituency started at 8am, amid a low presence of voters. There were hardly any queues at the 129 polling centres in the area, which has about 3.2 lakh registered voters.
Of the 18 polling centres visited by this correspondent, almost all were devoid of voters throughout the day.
Kamal Ahmed Mojumder of Awami League, Md Saiful Islam of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, and independent candidate Ekhlas Uddin Molla were vying for the seat.
Although a few voters turned up at the Adarsha School centre in Mirpur 10, they faced difficulties in casting their votes as their serial numbers on the voter list did not match with the Election Commission’s data.
So, they had to leave without casting ballots.
Around noon, presiding officer of centre no 89 said there were no incidents of violence, but no voters either.
“We are doing our job, but the presence (of voters) is frustrating,” M Hasan said, adding that only four votes had been cast all morning.
At numbers 94, 96 and 97 centres, no women had come out to vote as of 11 am.
Only 150 votes were cast by 3pm at the Kazipara Haji Yusuf Ali Primary School centre, which was reserved for female voters.
Earlier at 9am, presiding officer Mamunur Rashid had said: “As women have to do household work, they will come later.”
“Below 10 percent of voter turnout is always frustrating,” Rashid said around 2pm, without giving an exact figure.
At another centre in Monipuri School and College near Kazipara, no one seemed to be in charge after
3.15pm as Kamal Majumder’s supporters were seen forcibly casting “extra” votes.
“We have nothing to do,” said Abdun Noor, one of the presiding officers.
In West Shewrapara, soldiers deployed in the area questioned every person who tried to enter a voting centre.
Only 45 voters, out of 2,167, cast ballots in the first half of the day, said the presiding officer at the North South International School centre in West Shewrapara.
Voter presence was similar at some other centres far from the main roads. First-time voters at the Mamtaz School centre were disappointed by the low turnout, while some older voters said they had not witnessed such a situation in past elections.