Selim Osman, a member of Narayanganj’s mighty political Osman family, has won the Narayanganj 5 by-poll in a peaceful staging of the election where only a small voter turnout was visible.
The by-poll was also marred by allegations of fake voting, illegal casting of ballots, and obstructing voters from casting ballots at some centres. Out of the 141 stations of the constituency, voting in only Malibag Government Primary School polling station was postponed because of allegations of irregularities.
Voting began in the morning amid tight security and ended peacefully at 4pm without any any major incident of unrest. A total of four candidates contested in the by-election.
Visiting several polling stations throughout the day, the Dhaka Tribune found that voters were absent in many of the sites for large chunks of the day, while polling agents of candidates, especially for Selim’s main contender SM Akram, were not seen at many polling centres.
Although the Dhaka Tribune found only a limited presence of voters in the constituency, the Election Commission in its unofficial results claimed that around 44% of voters had shown up to practice their right to vote.
According to the results, JaPa candidate Selim bagged 82,856 votes, while independent candidate Akram got 66,114 ballots. A total of 151,109 legal votes were cast, and 1,713 votes were cancelled in the constituency which has 342,405 registered voters.
Polling officers at several polling centres in Bandar upazila showed documents reading that around 60% votes had been cast at their stations, even though the Dhaka Tribune could not find any long voter queue at the respective centres.
The campaigners of the candidates tried to justify the low turnout by claiming that early morning rain had deterred people from coming out to vote, adding that turnout had increased as the day progressed.
Voters and election officials also blamed rain and late-night World Cup matches as major reasons behind the low turnout.
Visiting at least 40 polling stations in both Narayanganj city and Bandar area, only a thin presence of voters could be found. Yesterday’s by-election also witnessed a poor turnout of women voters compared to previous elections.
Most polling centres saw an overwhelming presence of Selim Osman’s supporters, with followers of other candidate’s mostly absent at the sites.
To encourage the voters, loudspeakers of mosques were used to call upon the voters to come to the polling stations.
The Dhaka Tribune found that the centres in urban areas experienced lower voter turnouts compared to rural areas. The Kadam Rasul Degree College centre, a polling station in a rural area, reportedly saw a 90% turnout with 1,738 of its 1,983 votes being cast.
“I am happy over the turnout and peaceful ending of the election,” Masudur Rahman, presiding officer of the centre said.
When asked about the thin turnout of the voting, returning officer Mihir Sarwar Morshed said: “People are less interested in by-elections as government does not change through by-poll. Apart from this, candidates’ personal charisma is also a factor.”
Candidates’ reactions
In his reaction, JaPa candidate Selim Osman said the results were a reply to all the negative propaganda spread against Narayanganj.
Asked about the low voter turnout, Selim said weather was a factor that prompted voters to stay at home. He also alleged that the process of voting was very slow.
On the other hand, independent candidate SM Akram rejected the results of the by-poll.
Akram alleged that his rival Selim Osman’s cadres had rigged votes in many polling centres.
He said: “My polling agents were driven away [by Selim’s supporters] from several centres including Nolua Madrasa, Kumudini Welfare Trust and Shaheed Nagar Government Primary School centres.”
He also claimed that Munna, a councillor of Narayanganj City Corporation, confined one of his polling agents at Nolua Madrasa centre and rigged votes. Akram said he would not accept the result if such rigging continued.
Meanwhile, Awami League lawmaker Shamim Osman, brother of Selim, allegedly threatened an assistant superintendent of police over phone after the law enforcer barred his follower from casting fake votes.
ASP Basiruddin told journalists that Shamim threatened him at noon after he barred Madanpur union parishad Chairman Abdus Salam to cast fake votes at Kewdala Government Primary School centre.
The ASP said Shamim phoned him and ordered him to let Salam enter the polling centre and do whatever he wished.
“I am now carrying out the order of Election Commission. So I cannot do anything illegal,” he told journalists following the incident, adding that he had filed a general diary in this regard.
Voters’ reactions
Many senior citizens came to the polling centres yesterday on rickshaws, wheelchairs, or with support of their relatives. Many of them expressed their joy at being able to exercise their franchise.
Abdur Rahman Sarker, a 95-year-old voter from Bandar upazila’s Kazipara who came to the Kazipara Government High School centre on his wheelchair, said: “Usually, I do not miss casting vote as it is my right. As I see youths are casting votes festively, so I questioned myself why should not I join them?”
Hafaeza Khatun, 87, came on a rickshaw to the Hajipur Government Primary School centre, where her nephew Jalal carried her in his arms to help her cast the ballot.
“I have been voting for many years since I understood how to vote. I feel happy to have the stamina to cast the ballot as there might be no chance for me in the coming days to cast vote,” she said.
The presiding officer of the centre, Mohammad Golam Mostafa, told the Dhaka Tribune that he had seen a good number of senior citizens casting votes in his centre.
“Although my centre is in a very backward place and is difficult for voters to visit because of rain, people have been casting votes. Even the senior people are casting vote with help of their relatives, which has surprised me a lot,” said the official.
However, a large number of voters faced sufferings as they did not get voter slips from any candidate before the election.
“I came to cast my vote at the Narayanganj Government Primary College centre, but I could not cast my ballot as I did not get any voter slip from the candidates in the polls. I cannot tell my voter serial number to the polling officer,” Fatema Begum, a voter, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“My name was not found in the list. The polling officer said my name may be listed at another polling station,” she added.
Another voter, Shariat, came to cast his vote at Bibi Mariyam Girls School centre without any voter slip. He could not cast his ballot as the polling officer could not find his name in the list.
“I did not get any voter slip from candidate even though I am a voter in the area,” Shariat said.
Some voters also brought their national ID cards to the polling centres in order to vote, but were unable to exercise their rights as the NID serial numbers were not needed to cast votes.
Earlier, the Narayanganj 5 constituency became vacant with the death of Nasim Osman, who was parliament member from Jatiya Party in the 10th parliament. Nasim’s brother Selim Osman, a businessman who had never showed interest in politics before, was later nominated as a JaPa candidate to contest in the by-poll.
Late lawmaker Nasim, who is also the brother of Shamim Osman, Awami League MP from another constituency of the port city, was one of the 153 MPs of the current parliament who were elected unopposed in the January 5 national election.
Yesterday’s by-poll drew the attention of a cross section of people, as it was held against the backdrop of Shamim Osman’s alleged patronisation of Nur Hossain, the prime accused of Narayanganj seven-murder case, and Nasim Osman’s fugitive son’s alleged involvement with the killing of college student Twoki last year.
