Security personnel stand guard as general elections are held in Bangladesh
At least 20 people have lost their lives in the 10th general elections in Bangladesh. 147 seats went to the polls on Sunday. The ruling Awami League and its allies had won 153 seats earlier without a contest.
4,39,000 Bangladeshis were supposed to cast their vote in an election where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's victory was a foregone conclusion since the opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party or BNP, boycotted the polls. The ruling Awami Party said the turnout was satisfactory. But the BNP, led by Begum Khaleda Zia, rejected those claims.
The truth may well lie somewhere in between. But the one feature that marked the elections today was the low turnout.
And, signalling more unrest in the country, the BNP has also called for a 48-hour nationwide
hartal (strike) starting at 6 am today.
On Sunday, we criss-crossed capital Dhaka and polling stations spread across it. The picture was almost the same wherever we went. At Agargaon Taltola, only 180 people had cast their vote till noon at a polling station where 2,800 voters were listed. At Niketan in upscale Gulshan area, too, there wasn't much difference. Out of 2,097 voters there, only 28 had cast their vote till 3 pm. Polling closed an hour later.
In the 2008 polls, which the Awami League had won with a thumping majority, the voter turnout was between 80-90 percent.
"So far, we came to know it is more than 40 percent, I think, at the end of the day, it will be more," said Tofail Ahmed of Awami League.
But Ms Zia's BNP was scathing. "So far only 3-5 percent votes have been cast. People say election is a festival in this country... It was not... It was an obituary of democracy," said M Osman Farruk of the BNP.
On the ground, with the BNP calling for a boycott of the polls, most voters who turned out were supporters of the Awami League and dismissed the opposition's claims that the election was not credible.
"Government announced an election... If I invite you and you don't come, there is nothing I can do," said Shamshul Haq, a resident of Dhaka.
Those who stayed away from the polls were hesitant to talk. "I did not vote because it was not a fair election," said Tito.
On being asked about the
hartals and the violence on the streets, a young woman voter, perhaps, summed it up best. "It is hampering the education system, the economic situation. But, at least, we are hoping that after this something better will come out in future," she said.
The elections in Bangladesh have concluded but instead of showing the country a way forward, there is only uncertainty at the end of the tunnel.