Main Page «
Front Page «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

The dwellers of the bustling capital city Dhaka grabbed a chance to spend their times in a relaxed mood on Monday as most of the vehicles kept off the city roads as the nation went to the ninth parliamentary polls.
   All the main thoroughfares of the capital wore a deserted look with no vehicles on the road, although the government imposed no restrictions on vehicular movement on the main streets.
   Only a few cars of election observers, journalists, law enforcing agencies as well as officials engaged in the polling affairs were seen plying the roads.
   Many of the city boys grabbed the chance to enjoy the day playing cricket on the deserted streets which usually remain busy with traffic round the year. Many were seen roaming around in rickshaws to see a deserted city.
   However, the city’s lanes and by-lanes were swarming with the people murmuring about the possible outcome of the elections as the elections were held in free and fair manner and without any untoward incident in the capital’s polling centres.
   Youths sat on the camps set up by candidates to distribute the slips with voters’ serial number. As allowed by the Election Commission, the workers and agents of the candidates running for the national polls set up camps in different parts of the city and distributed voters’ serial numbers.
   ‘We have already cast our votes on the first chance and now we are enjoying the day as we usually do on the hartal day,’ Nadim, a third-year student of a private university, who playing cricket on the streets in the Lalbagh area, told New Age.
   While activists of different political parties were busy with distributing slips with voters’ serial numbers along with a request to cast the votes in favour of their respective candidates.
   After casting votes, most of the voters preferred staying inside the doors. However, people having urgency to go out suffered huge miseries as they did not find vehicles on the roads.
   ‘I had to come to the hospital (Dhaka Medical College Hospital) from Mohammadpur in a rickshaw as I failed to manage any vehicle,’ Shirin Aktar, mother of a 15-year old juvenile undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Above eighty per cent votes were cast in the ninth national elections in Khulna with no incidents of violence during the voting hours till 4:00pm.
   Two persons were arrested along with money at a village under Koyra upazila in the district in the early hours of Monday while two incidents of casting fake votes were alleged.
   A few voters holding national identity cards, especially in the Khulna city, said they had to go back home from the polling centers without casting votes as they did not find their names on the voter list.
   According to presiding officers in different constituencies of the district, more than 50 per cent votes were cast by 12:00 noon. Long queues of both male and female voters were seen in all the polling centers.
   Mikshimil Rudaghara High School polling centre presiding officer Dulal Krishna Roy under Dumuria in Khulna 5 at 11:15am, Government Chhoygharia Primary School polling centre presiding officer Md Akkas Ali Sheikh under Batiyaghata upazila in Khulna 1 at 11:40am and Government Elaipur Primary School polling centre presiding officer Md Mahmud Hossain under Rupsha upazila in Khulna 4 constituency at 12:20pm said above fifty per cent votes were cast in their respective polling centres within the time.
   A few voters at PTI School, Khulna Collegiate School, Government Bayra Naba Primary School and Haji Fayez Uddin High School alleged that they could not cast votes as they could not find their names on the voter list though they had national identity cards.
   Aleya Begum, wife of Babu Sardar of 4, BK Main Road under Khulna thana, talking to New Age on Monday 2:30pm said she came to the PTI School polls centre but did not find her name on the voter list and would have to go back home without casting vote.
   The presiding officer of the centre, Shafique Hossain, talking to New Age at around 2:40pm, said his center has 2,822 votes and a total of about 2,000 votes were cast by the time.
   He said that very few voters, especially illiterate females, came to the polling centre with national ID card but their names could not be found on the list provided by the Election Commission.
   Jahanara Begum, wife of Abu Sayeed of Paikgachha, who was scheduled to cast vote at Government Paikgachha Girls’ High School and Nimai Mandal, son of the late Tarak Mandal of Paikgachha, who was scheduled to cast vote at Shaheed Gafur Government Primary School alleged that they came to their polling centers in the morning and they found that their votes were already cast.
   The Koyra police said they arrested three persons – Abdul Hai, Habibur Rahman and Ibrahim — from village Hodda under Koyra in Khulna in the early hours of Monday and recovered about Tk 10,000 from their possession.
   Khulna district returning officer and also the Khulna deputy commissioner NM Zeaul Alam, talking to New Age, claimed that the total votes cast in the district would be above 80 per cent.

Barring few incidents of false votes, voting to six constituencies in Rajshahi was held peacefully on Monday with a high turnout.
   Returning officer Shefaul Karim, also deputy commissioner, expressed satisfaction over the voting in Rajshahi. ‘We visited different polling centres and saw a good turnout,’ he told New Age.
   Deputy election commissioner Syed Muhammad Musa also expressed satisfaction over the voting in all the polling centres in Rajshahi.
   Shahjahan Ali, presiding officer at Sardaha Government Primary School and College centre, said 75 per cent of total 4,321 votes was cast in the centre till 1:30pm.
   A number of voters were seen leaving the poling centres here as their names were not on the voters’ list despite having national identity cards.
   ‘I waited for more than an hour but I failed to find my name and serial number in the voters’ list,’ said Ataur Rahman who went to Kashiadanga High School centre under Paba upazila to cast his vote.
   Rajesh Kumar, a voter, alleged that discrepancy between the voters’ roll and the national identity cards had slowed down the voting in the centre. Few false votes were reportedly cast in the election, he said.
   A 50-year-old man filed a complaint to the returning officer alleging that someone cast his vote before he reached Kharkhari Government Primary School centre in the morning.
   A total of 28 candidates were vying for the election from six constituencies in Rajshahi.
   Awami League-led alliance candidate Fazley Hossain Badsha and BNP-led alliance candidate Mizanur Rahman Minu, who contested the election from Rajshahi 2, cast their votes at respective polling centres in the city.
   After casting his vote at Polytechnic Institute centre at 8:45am, Minu alleged that he had no confidence in the Election Commission. ‘I have no confidence in the EC as it was working for a party and alliance,’ he told reporters. He, however, said the voting was still free and fair.
   Badsha, also politburo member of Workers Party, expressed his satisfaction over the election process after casting his vote at Julfia Government High School centre at 10:00am.
   The BNP-led alliance wanted to hold an election without voters’ list although it was possible for them to prepare voter’s roll and hold the election in free and fair manner, he said.
   Rajshahi mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton also expressed satisfaction over the voting as he cast vote at Rajshahi Satellite High School centre.
   Security forces comprising members of the Rapid Action Battalion, police and Ansars were deployed to maintain law and order while the Bangladesh Rifles personnel acted as striking forces.
   No incident of violence was reported from any part of the city and other areas in the district during the voting. Most streets wore deserted look as no motorised vehicles were plying the streets.

The ninth parliamentary elections were held peacefully in the Sylhet division on Monday with 70 per cent votes cast by 4:00pm without any major incidents of violence.
   The voters at the polling centres under different constituencies in the Sylhet district were in a festive mood.
   The presence of voters, both males and females, at different polling centres in the city and its outskirts from early morning amid chilly cold and dense fog was more compared with the past elections in the country.
   A huge number of voters queued up at almost all of the polling centres under the six constituencies of the district from early morning to cast votes, eyewitnesses said.
   Activists of the BNP-led alliance beat up Farida Begum, a female voter, at Kadamtali Primary School Centre under Dakshin Surma in the city at about 11:30am allegedly for not casting her vote for the BNP-led alliance candidate, sources in the polling centre claimed.
   BDR personnel detained Nazrul Islam, an activist of Jamaat-e-Islami, from the compound of Gurusadoy High School polling centre at Jakiganj in Sylhet 5 constituency at noon on charge of pressurising voters to cast votes for his party nominated candidate.
   The casting of at Kalakuta-Ziapur polling centre of Jakiganj also remained halted for about 20 minutes at noon as supporters of Awami League and Jamaat were locked in a quarrel, local sources said.
   An ansar member, on polls duty at the Fultali union office centre of Golapganj upazila under Sylhet 6 constituency, was arrested for his alleged attempt to influence the voters to cast votes for the Jamaat-nominated candidate.
   Talking to New Age, district election officer Shamsul Alam said at about 5:00pm that the election was taking place in a very peaceful atmosphere and the voters’ presence was spontaneous.
   He said voting across the district completed in a free and fair manner in presence of government officials and law enforcing agencies.
   ‘According to reports from different presiding officers, nearly 70 per cent of the total voters in the district were cast,’ the district election officer added.
   But slow casting at different polling centres in the district, especially in the morning, was the main weakness in the elections, voters and members of different observer agencies complained.
   Khandaker Mizanur Rahman, deputy election commissioner in Sylhet, said the vote casting process was completed in the division without any untoward incident.
   ‘We are not informed of any untoward incident anywhere in the division during the voting hours,’ he added.
   Both the heavyweight candidates of the two major alliances for the Sylhet 1 constituency, which covers the city and sadar upazila, informed that the elections were held in a free and fair manner.
   The AL-led alliance candidate for Sylhet-1, former finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, said the elections were held peacefully.
   ‘I am hopeful of my victory if the electoral process ends without any intimidation,’ he added.
   The BNP-led alliance candidate for the seat, former finance minister M Saifur Rahman, said at about 1:30pm that he is sure about his victory in the race.
   ‘I am sure about my victory in the Sylhet 1 constituency because the city dwellers will vote for me as they believe in development work, not in dreaming,’ he said.

Weather is likely to remain dry with partly cloudy sky over the country in the next 24 hours till 6:00pm today, said the Met Office in a forecast on Monday.
   Moderate to thick fog may occur over the river basins and light to moderate may elsewhere over the country during midnight till morning.
   Night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country, Met Office said.
   The country’s highest temperature, 27.6 degrees Celsius, was recorded on Monday at Sitakundu and the lowest, 11.6 degrees Celsius, in Jessore.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 5:22pm and rises tomorrow at 6:41am.