Cumilla city polls end, eyes on the results

The voting in the Cumilla city election has closed without any major occurrence.

The voting was held with satisfactory turnout at polling centres and without any complaint from the candidates in the election. A short spell of rain in the morning and EVM errors delayed voting at some polling stations.

The results of the election will be published at every polling centre after the end of counting.

The returning officer will announce the combined results from the control room and result distribution centre at the Shilpakala Academy in Cumilla later on Wednesday.

However, the first election under the Election Commission headed by new chief Kazi Habibul Awal came to an end without any major disturbances.

Polling officials said the voting started at 8 am and continued until 4 pm without any break. All the voters within the designated boundaries of a centre had to complete casting their ballots during this time.

Five candidates are vying for the position of mayor while 106 for councillor posts and 36 for reserved posts in the election.

Arfanul Haque Rifat, the Awami League mayoral candidate, expressed his satisfaction over the voting atmosphere at Cumilla Victoria Government College centre. He said he is hopeful of winning.

"Everything is all right, but EVMs were having minor errors," Monirul Haque Sakku, who defeated the ruling Awami League's candidates in the last two polls, said after casting his ballot at the Hossamia High School centre.

He joined the race this year as an independent candidate after his expulsion from the BNP opposition party, which says it will not take part in any election under the Sheikh Hasina administration.

Nizam Uddin Kaiser, who is also standing for Cumilla mayor as an independent candidate after his expulsion from the BNP, cast his ballot at the Victoria College centre as well.

"Casting ballots through EVMs is difficult for older voters and slows down voting," he said.

"We have found no disruptions or irregularities during the election. No allegation of obstruction to voter turnout was reported to us. The polls have proven that people's interest in casting ballots has increased," said Prof Mohammad Abed Ali, chairman of the Election Monitoring Forum.

"Five of our organisations visited a total of 40 polling centres. They reported 30 to 35 percent of voter turnout in the first half of the day."

Abed said pre-election campaigns were not enough to introduce the EVM method to general voters. Many of them had to try a couple of times or more before they were able to cast their ballots through EVMs.

The Election Commission has expressed satisfaction over the voting in Cumilla following their monitoring through CCTV cameras. The commission expects 60 percent of voter turnout this time.

LONG QUEUE OF WOMEN VOTERS

With two hours left for the voting to close, more than 100 women lined up in a long queue at a centre in Cumilla City Corporation Ward No. 20, where a few men had arrived to make their pick.

The presiding officers of the two Dishabandha Govt Primary School centres, one for women and the other for men, said everyone who queues up will be able to cast their ballots even after the voting ends.

With four booths at each centre, women queued up in front of the first one. Lucky Akter was one of them. “I’ve been standing in the line for almost two hours. I’m almost there now and won’t go back without casting the vote.”

Asgar Ali, the presiding officer of that centre, said: “There are 1,939 women voters listed in the centre. So far 885 of them have voted. Those who are in the queue will be able to vote no matter how much time it takes. That’s the rule.”

The queue in the men’s centre right beside was not too long.

Earlier in the day, there were reports of people unable to locate their assigned voting booths.

Hosne Ara, an older woman, arrived at Ward No. 10 voting centre Nawab Faizunnesa Govt. Girls' High School. After waiting a long time in the shade to avoid getting wet in the rain, she found out that her voting booth was a different one.

The woman, who had arrived at the voting on her own,  could not find her name after travelling to the other booth either and was left frustrated after hours of searching for the right booth.

“My blood pressure rose searching for where to vote. I’m going home now and will return in the afternoon again if I can,” she said.

Nargis Sultana, who is over 60, faced similar issues. She arrived at YWCA School voting centre with her daughter Subah Rista around 10am. She could not find her name on the list there either.

“I cast my vote in this centre last time,” Nargis said as she kept searching for the right booth.

She then went to the Nawab Faizunnessa School centre for her daughter’s vote and tried to figure out whether she could cast her vote there. Around 12pm, Nargis gave up on voting as she came to know that her booth was not there either. But her daughter Subah was able to cast her vote.