EWG alleges of fake votes in Narayanganj by-poll

Observers of the Election Working Group (EWG) said that the Narayanganj-5 by-poll was marred by the casting of fake votes.

EWG, a platform of 31 national and regional NGOs, said this at a press conference on Saturday.

"The voter turnout observed at the polling stations was 43.5 percent. But the EWG believes that this number doesn't reflect the actual scenario because of fake votes," said EWG director Abdul Alim.

The Election Commission, however, said it was satisfied with the voting held on Thursday.

Jatiya Party candidate Selim Osman, who won the election, claimed the poll was fair but his close contestant, SM Akram, alleged that most of the polling centres had been “taken over”.

According to the EWG, 53 percent of the voting centres had only one to 20 voters and only three percent of the centres saw over 40 voters towards the beginning of the poll.

EWG director Alim claimed that five percent of the polling centres concluded the voting with people still waiting to exercise their franchises.

Peaceful environment prevailed in most of the centres during the counting, but the contestants' agents in 14 percent of the centres objected to counting process," he added.

EWG claimed that some of their observers were barred from entering some of the voting centres.

The NGO platform had surveyed 60 out of the total 141 polling stations of the Narayangabj-5 by-poll.