Awami League President and five-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that on Thursday, the nation witnessed a pre-planned election of deception and farceโone that will be recorded as a disgraceful chapter in Bangladeshโs democratic history.
This was not an election of public will; it was an industrial-scale administrative exercise in manipulating numbers, she said in a statement on Friday.
The total number of registered voters in this election was 127,711,793. Voting began at 7:30am and continued until 4:30pm. Serious irregularities were observed, both in the conduct of voting and in the turnout percentages, released in stages by the Election Commission (EC), many of which appeared inconsistent and unrealistic.
According to the ECโs first briefing, by 11amโthe first 3 hours and 30 minutesโ14.96% of votes had been cast, equivalent to 19,105,684 ballots. That would mean an average of 90,979 votes per minute.
In the next briefing, turnout by 12 noon was announced as 32.88%. That means between 11am and 12 noon alone, 17.92% of votes were castโ22,880,350 ballotsโan average of roughly 381,339 votes per minute.
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This rate is several times higher than the earlier average and is highly abnormal. During the first 3.5 hours, the hourly turnout rate was 4.27%, yet in the following hour, it was shown as 17.92%.
If all 32,789 polling centres were operating, this would imply an average of 11.63 votes per minute per centreโone vote every 5.16 secondsโwhich is practically impossible.
Sheikh Hasina said that anyone familiar with Bangladeshโs voting history knows that turnout typically moves fastest in the morning, especially before 11am. Yet only 14.96% turnout was recorded during that period, followed by a sudden leap to 32.88% by noonโan abnormal surge within a single hour.
At the third stage, it was reported that turnout reached 47.91% by 2pm, meaning that between noon and 2pm, it increased by 15.03%, or 19,194,883 votesโabout 159,958 votes per minute.
Finally, by 4:30pm, turnout was declared to be 59.44% on Friday. That means between 2pm. and 4:30pmโ2 hours and 30 minutesโanother 11.53%, or 14,722,770 votes, were added, averaging roughly 98,152 votes per minute.
According to various media reports, casting a vote at some centres took between 1.5 and 3 minutes. Yet the time-based statistics show that turnout increased at an unusually rapid rate between 11am and noon.
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The overall vote count presented by the Election Commission does not match the reality reported across the countryโempty polling stations, inactive booths, and absent voters.
Among roughly 86,000 prisoners eligible to vote, only about 5,000 did so (around 3%). Among an estimated 15 million expatriate voters, about 500,000 voted (around 7%). In this context, the claim of nearly 60% turnout is not just unrealistic but laughable.
State resources and government machinery were directly used to promote the โYesโ vote. The government itself openly assumed responsibility for campaigning in favour of โYes.โ
On the ballot paper, a tick mark beside โYesโ and a cross beside โNoโ represented a blatant psychological tactic aimed at influencing voters and controlling public opinion. The absence of signatures other than the presiding officerโs on result sheets further indicates a lack of transparency.
Although constituency-wise results of the national election were announced over an 18-hour period, constituency-level results of the referendum held the same day were not published. The referendum results were released almost five hours after the national election results. This delay, combined with numerical inconsistencies in participation, has created a clear perception of vote rigging among the public.
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The delay in publishing referendum results raises a crucial question: Did the Election Commission process the data, or did it adjust the data to fit a predetermined process? This question is now being asked across all sections of Bangladeshi societyโand it is both relevant and legitimate.
This election did not pave the way for restoring democracy; rather, it has deepened public distrust, skepticism, and political uncertainty. Results declared through a controversial process can never bring stability to a country.
On the eve of voting, February 11, incidents of violence and clashes occurred in various parts of the country between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami. Reports emerged of weapons recoveries, vote-buying, and arrests.
That evening, there were reports of polling centres being seized, ballots being stamped in advance, and other irregularities. In several centres, presiding officers signed result sheets before voting even began. Many voters who went to cast their ballots found that their votes had already been cast. In some places, groups of four or five women were seen stamping ballots together inside private rooms; in others, men were doing so.
Hundreds of pre-stamped ballots were recovered. Some centres had multiple polling agents representing the same candidate. Attempts were made the previous night to prepare result sheets and collect polling agentsโ signatures in advance.
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On election day itself, clashes, crude bomb explosions, centre seizures, ballot snatching, coercion to vote for specific symbols, fake voting, counting irregularities, and even presiding officers stamping ballots for particular candidates were reported nationwide.
During the tenure of the Awami League, the BNP voluntarily boycotted two elections and even announced efforts to resist them through arson and violence, causing the loss of many lives. In contrast, the Awami League did not boycott elections; rather, it was illegally banned and forcibly excluded from this one.
Even so, the Awami League did not call for violent resistance or destruction. It appealed to the people to peacefully boycott this one-sided election, and the public responded by not turning up to vote. That is why the illegal government of Muhammad Yunus had to inflate turnout figures through manipulation.
Under this illegal Yunus administration, this rigged and one-sided election has robbed people of their voting rights.
Therefore, the demand of Bangladeshโs 180 million people today is to annul this voterless, illegal, and unconstitutional election; ensure the resignation of the murderous fascist Yunus; withdraw false cases and release all political prisoners, teachers, journalists, intellectuals, and professionals; lift the suspension imposed on the Awami Leagueโs activities; and restore the peopleโs voting rights by holding a free, fair, and participatory election under a neutral caretaker government.
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