A discrepancy of 17,452 ballots has emerged in the Bandarban constituency following the 13th parliamentary election and the accompanying referendum, even though the vote was completed peacefully under tight security.
Despite extensive efforts by the returning officer, the Election Commission, the administration and law enforcement agencies, the declared results do not match the total ballot figures between the parliamentary election and the referendum.
An investigation shows a gap of 17,452 ballots between the total ballots counted in the parliamentary race, including invalid votes, and those counted in the referendum.
The issue was first highlighted on Thursday night by Bandarban senior lawyer Md Iqbal Karim in a post on his verified Facebook account.
He told TIMES of Bangladesh, “As a conscious citizen, the discrepancy in the ballot figures has surprised me. If the election is to remain above criticism, the Election Commission must investigate the ballot issue in the Bandarban constituency and uncover the real cause.”
On the other hand, despite repeated attempts, no statement has been obtained from the officials concerned.
Some are not answering their phones, while others who do receive calls are unwilling to make any official comment on the matter.
However, speaking on condition of anonymity, some sources said the issue is extremely “sensitive” and that they are looking into it.
A source at the district election office said each voter was entitled to receive one ballot paper for the parliamentary election and one for the referendum.
An equal number of ballots for both polls were sent to polling centres, the source said.
Within eight hours of the end of voting, Returning Officer and Deputy Commissioner Shamima Ara Rini announced the preliminary unofficial results for Constituency No 300 (Bandarban).
On Friday, she handed over the official result sheets to candidates’ agents.
Both documents, however, contained the same disputed figures.
According to the results declared by the district returning officer, the four parliamentary candidates secured a combined total of 174,770 votes.
Invalid or rejected ballots in the parliamentary election stood at 6,111.
That brings the total parliamentary ballots cast to 180,881.
In the referendum, 71,417 votes were cast in favour of “Yes” and 90,156 in favour of “No”.
A further 1,856 ballots were declared invalid.
The total number of referendum ballots cast therefore stands at 163,429.
This leaves a shortfall of 17,452 ballots compared with the total counted in the parliamentary election.
When asked about the matter, Bandarban Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer Shamima Ara Rini told TIMES that, as Bandarban is a remote area, information from many constituencies had been collected via wireless communication to ensure quick results.
“There was a discrepancy in the initial count,” she said.
“Later, when the documents from all centres reached us, the updated information was sent to the Election Commission,” she added.
Regarding the matter, Election Commission Public Relations Wing Director Ruhul Amin Mallick said that, according to information sent by the Bandarban returning officer, 177,266 votes were cast directly in the referendum, while 3,604 votes were cast through postal ballots. In total, 180,870 votes were cast.
