Voters at the Mirza Abbas Mahila College polling centre in the capital’s Shahjahanpur have expressed frustration over an abnormally slow voting process that has resulted in long queues for the Dhaka-8 constituency.
On Thursday, voters reported having to wait for hours to cast their ballots.
Observations at female booth No 6 revealed that it was taking an average of 10 minutes to process each voter, a task that typically should not take more than two to three minutes.
The situation at male booth No 3 was even more sluggish, with each voter taking approximately 15 to 16 minutes on average.
Sufia Khatun, a voter, told TIMES of Bangladesh at 11:10 am that she had been standing in line for over an hour and had yet to enter the centre.
Similarly, male voters reported that despite joining the queue at 9:45 am, they had still not gained entry by 11:18 am.
Another voter, Arif Hasan, voiced his concerns regarding the pace of the proceedings. “The voting process at the centre is unusually slow. I fear many voters will not be able to cast their votes if this continues,” he said.
Responding to the complaints, the Presiding Officer of the centre, H M Imran Hossain, told TIMES that the delays were due to a high voter turnout and the fact that the national election and a referendum are being held simultaneously.
He further noted that the slow pace of work by one or two officials was also contributing to the delay.
