The parliamentary election on Thursday descended into chaos and farce, with viral videos exposing alleged midnight ballot stuffing, impersonation fraud, and systematic disenfranchisement that left thousands unable to cast their votes.
Official turnout figures hovered around 47-49% by evening, but criticsโincluding exiled former PM Sheikh Hasinaโdismissed them as inflated, claiming actual participation was negligible in many areas due to pre-stamped ballots and intimidation.
Midnight Ballot Stuffing
Viral social media footage from multiple constituencies showed ballots being stamped en masse overnight or in the early hours, often favouring symbols associated with major contenders: BNP’s paddy sheaves (rice sheaf) and Jamaat-e-Islami’s scales. Reports and clips alleged that presiding officers or sympathetic staff pre-stamped thousands of ballots in centers across districts like Narayanganj, Jhenaidah, Noakhali, and Sylhet, filling boxes before polling officially began at 7:30am.
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One widely shared video from Dhankunda centre in Siddhirganj captured officials allegedly stamping in favour of Jamaat-backed candidates under the cover of darkness. Critics branded it “vote robbery,” arguing that such pre-rigging rendered the entire day a sham.
In Bhaluka (Mymensingh-11), a quiet morning with sparse voters gave way to intensified stamping in the afternoon, as previously reported CCTV-captured incidents of youths stuffing boxes. The pattern fueled accusations that low daytime presence was deliberateโto allow rigging once genuine voters were discouraged or turned away.
Voters Find Their Ballots Already Cast
Heartbreaking accounts flooded social media and news outlets as ordinary citizens discovered their votes had been stolen:
– In Nilphamari-2, a voter recounted standing in line, reaching the booth, only to learn agents had already marked his ballot. “I asked them, โWho cast my vote?โ” he said in a viral clip, as voices in the background urged others to leave.
– 75-year-old Abdul Malek in Rajshahi was stunned: officials informed him his vote was already recorded.
– Abdus Salam in Bidaishulbani Mauza (Madania Madrasa centre) found someone else had voted in his name; he approached police, Ansar-VDP, and military personnel and planned to escalate to the Election Commission to reclaim his right.
– Numerous women and elderly voters reported similar impersonation fraud, with some handed pre-stamped ballots bearing the “scale” or “paddy sheaf” symbols.
These incidents compounded earlier reports of voters denied entryโincluding Hindu minorities in Chittagong’s Banshkhali barred outrightโand cases where CCTV cameras were “destroyed” or non-functional, conveniently enabling fraud.
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Outside the polling station at Ejharul Haq High School centre in Kalipur of Banshkhali, a Hindu woman with vermilion on her forehead said: “They said that Hindus will not be allowed to enter at all today. Why? Don’t we have the right? We don’t leave our children at home to vote? We will vote as we wish. Whatever we want.
“That Muslim brother says that Hindus will not be allowed to enter here today. They are being thrown out. Why are they being thrown out? Why are we not qualified? Can’t we vote? Can’t we have a wish to vote? Are we not human beings?”
Women’s Booths Breached
In Bhola, a serious allegation surfaced against an agent of the BNP candidate Barrister Andaleeve Rahman Partha. Viral footage and claims showed the agent entering a woman’s booth and casting a fraudulent vote. If substantiated, it exposes glaring lapses in booth security and protection for vulnerable voters. Critics slammed it as evidence that even segregated booths offer no safeguard, questioning how credible results can emerge from such compromised environments.
Low Turnout Amid Viral Rigging Videos
Early morning turnout was abysmalโas low as 6-13% in some Dhaka centres in the first hoursโwith many booths eerily empty. Sheikh Hasina labelled the polls a “voter-less, illegal farce” staged under interim leader Muhammad Yunus, citing pre-poll centre seizures, gunfire, vote-buying, and ballot stamping from the evening of February 11. She demanded cancellation, Yunus’s resignation, and fresh polls under a neutral setup.
While official data later claimed ~48% turnout, opposition voices and viral content painted a different picture: widespread rigging to manufacture numbers, with genuine voters deterred or disenfranchised. Clashes between BNP and Jamaat supporters in areas like Mirpur-10 and Sylhet added to the volatility, amid mutual accusations of fraud.
Senior journalist Probir Kumar Sarker said that with the Awami League banned and the contest narrowed to BNP vs. a Jamaat-led alliance, the election was meant to restore legitimacy post-Hasina. Instead, the combination of pre-dawn stuffing, impersonation, booth breaches, and disenfranchisement has shredded credibility. When citizens arrive to vote only to find their franchise already exercisedโoften by agents or strangersโand when viral videos show boxes filled before dawn, the process loses any claim to fairness.
As counting proceeds amid these mounting irregularities, the Election Commission must investigate every single allegation and hold re-polling wherever needed, Sarker added.
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