Except for a very few sporadic incidents of violence in different districts, the 12th parliamentary election on Sunday was largely held peacefully.
Voting began at 8:00 am and it continued till 4:00 pm without any break. Since the morning, voters stood in the queues to exercise their rights to vote across the country.
The incidents of violence were reported as follows:
A supporter of the Awami League nominated candidate for Munshiganj-3 constituency (Sadar and Gajaria), Mrinal Kanti Das, was hacked to death right beside a polling centre.
The killing took place in the Tengor area under Mirkadim municipality of the Sadar upazila at around 10:00 am, Sunday.
The deceased person, Md Zillur Rahman, is the vice-president of Mirkadim municipality Sramik League. His family alleged that the supporters of independent candidate Md Faisal, contesting with the scissors symbol, killed him.
Superintendent of Police (SP) in Munshiganj, Mohhamad Aslam Khan said that the incident occurred outside of the polling centre. It was unexpected.
In another incident two crude bombs exploded outside the Khilkhet votong centre. The bombs exploded at around 10:00 am on Sunday in an alley near the Khilkhet Onneshon School polling centre, said Deputy Commissioner Rifat Rahman of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Gulshan Division.
However, the explosions did not disrupt the voting process at the centre, he added.
In another incident, a ballot box stuffed with ballot papers was set on fire at a polling centre in Tangail’s Gopalpur upazila just half an hour before the voting ended.
Mohammad Imdadul Islam Tayyab, officer-in-charge of Gopalpur Police Station said that law enforcers fired five rounds of bullets to bring the situation under control.
“Two Ansar members were injured during a scuffle with the miscreants at Kaheta Government Primary School centre in Hemnagar union at around 3:30 pm,” the OC said.
In Joypurhat, there was an explosion at the main gate of Joypurhat Government Women's College centre. This took place at around 9:15, on Sunday morning. Police arrived at the spot upon hearing the news. They claim that someone could have blasted a minor explosive to spread fear.
A member of the Ansar has been injured in a crude bomb blast attack and a supporter of an independent candidate has been attacked at polling centres in Jashore.
Two people have been injured after a clash between supporters of the Awami League candidate and an independent candidate at a polling centre in Jamalpur’s Sharishabari.
There were, however, allegations of polling booth capturing and vote-rigging, which led to the suspension of voting in three centres.
Voting at a polling centre in Narsingdi-4 constituency (Monohardi-Belabo) was cancelled due to allegations of irregularities.
“Voting at Ibrahimpur Government Primary School in Sallabad Union of Belabo upazila was cancelled at about 8:40 am, shortly after voting began,” said the district returning officer, Badiul Alam.
The returning officer stated that the voting was cancelled due to allegations of ballot stuffing.
The assistant presiding officer of a polling station in Bhola's Lalmohan Upazila has died after falling ill while on duty.
Md Touhidul Islam, Lalmohan Upazila executive officer (UNO), said the official, Mostafizur Rahman, passed away at the Charbhuta Bauria polling station in Bhola-3 at around midnight on Saturday.
Twenty-seven independent and party-affiliated candidates withdrew from the race on the day citing a lack of a fair polls environment.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission also disqualified candidacy of an Awami League candidate - Mustafizur Rahman who is contesting from the Chattogram-16 for violating the electoral code of conduct. The incumbent MP allegedly threatened law enforcers during the vote.
Out of 44 political parties registered with the Election Commission, 28 parties are in the election race that has around 12 crore voters listed.
Though there are 300 constituencies, the EC postponed the election for the Naogaon-2 constituency following the death of an independent candidate.
The Election Commission sent election materials, including ballot boxes and other materials to polling stations on Saturday.
The ballot papers were sent to most of the polling centres early in the morning on Sunday.
Some 7.5 lakh security personnel have been deployed to maintain poll-time peaceful atmosphere by monitoring for any violations across the country.
