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Published : 28 May 2015, 02:47 PM
It found one vote is cast every minute and concluded that a rate higher than that would point to irregularities.
The EC staged the mock voting on Wednesday at the Election Training Institute (ETI) ahead of the Magura-1 bypoll scheduled for May 30.
“The two-hour mock voting was held to find out the number of votes usually cast. We found that 71 votes were cast in the first hour and 81 during the second. It’s an average of 76 votes cast in an hour,” said ETI Director General Mizanur Rahman.
If more than one vote cast in a minute in any Magura polling station, one would have good reason to suspect irregularities, he added.
The ETI has sent its finding to the EC on Wednesday.
According to Rahman, the second hour of voting usually results in faster polling than the first hour as by then the election officials get used to the exercise .
Four candidates—nominated by the Awami League, NPP, BNF and an independent— are vying for the Magura-1 bypoll on May 30.
Chief Election Commissioner (CE) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad had earlier said that they were taking extra precautions keeping in mind the 1999 Magura bypolls.
Wednesday’s mock vote was meant to avoid untoward incidents.
The EC will also deploy a monitoring cell during the election to collect information on an hourly-basis from polling stations.
Meanwhile, EC Secretary Md Sirazul Islam has written to the Cabinet Secretary over State Minister for Youth and Sports Biren Sikder taking part in the campaign using ‘government facilities’.
The letter sent on Monday reads that the minister stayed at the Magura Circuit House between May 21 and 23 and campaigned for the party-nominated candidate, which violated the electoral code of conduct.
The independent candidate for Magura poll Tapan Kumar Roy has sought the CEC’s intervention fearing that a fair election might not be held.
In a plea to the CEC, Tapan Kumar Roy alleged that local Awami League supporters are ‘hindering’ his campaign and the administration is ‘harassing’ his supporters.
He also called upon the EC to deploy army for the elections.
The CEC has instructed Magura deputy commissioner, superintendent of police and the local police OC to lodge a case over the candidate’s allegations, said EC Deputy Secretary Shamsul Alam.
