The Election Commission (EC) has announced it will investigate allegations of irregularities raised by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami regarding the Bogura-6 by-election and the Sherpur-3 general election.
EC Senior Secretary Akhter Ahmed shared this information with journalists at the commission’s headquarters in Agargaon on Thursday afternoon, following the conclusion of voting in both constituencies.
When questioned whether the commission would look into the specific complaints made by Jamaat, Akhter confirmed, “Certainly, we will investigate. I have already asked for reports from my respected officers. That is all.”
Earlier in the day, at approximately 1pm, Jamaat-e-Islami held a press conference at Maghbazar in the capital, alleging “serious irregularities” during the polling process. The party’s Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar claimed they had been receiving reports of misconduct since the morning.
He specifically alleged that in some centres, presiding officers had violated electoral codes by taking signatures from polling agents on final result sheets before the voting had even commenced.
Porwar sought the intervention of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin to take immediate action against these irregularities.
Meanwhile, Masudur Rahman, the Jamaat-nominated candidate for Sherpur-3 (Sreebardi-Jhenaigati), announced a boycott of the election at 3pm. Masudur, whose electoral symbol is the ‘Scale’, claimed that a fair election was not possible under the current circumstances.
He alleged that his agents were forcibly removed from polling centres and that instances of proxy voting and open ballot stamping took place. He further claimed that despite reporting these issues to presiding officers and law enforcement agencies, no remedial action was taken.
Addressing the boycott in Sherpur-3, Secretary Akhter Ahmed remarked, “Jamaat has boycotted; you should ask them. We organised the election; we did not tell anyone to boycott.”
He noted he had heard the boycott was prompted by allegations of “fake votes” occurring 20 minutes before the end of the day’s polling. “That is their political matter. I have no comment on that,” he added.
The EC Secretary further noted that he has instructed officials to provide a formal report on the matter and emphasised that the announcement of results should not be delayed.
