The deadly clashes on voting day marked the end of a violent campaign. The opposition said its workers faced arbitrary arrests and candidates were attacked by ruling party activists. The ruling party denied being behind any violence.
Police say at least 17 people were killed in election day clashes between supporters and opponents of Hasina’s Awami League. The two sides, which have competed for power often violently for decades, traded blame for the election day unrest.
Though the Amnesty International Regional Campaigner at Dhaka, Saad Hammadi has said that People have shared experiences of being physically assaulted and manhandled at polling stations.
An impartial probe has called been called for into incidents of election violence. Hasina’s opponents have rejected the election result, citing what they describe as widespread rigging and voter intimidation.
She has denied impropriety, calling it a peaceful vote that saw enthusiastic participation from her supporters.
Opposition BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam said he was collecting reports of rigging to submit to the Election Commission to demand a fresh vote. Though the Election commission has already rejected that plea.
Even though the capital Dhaka was quiet but the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said its workers were being attacked in several areas elsewhere in the country by Awami League activists.
The League’s joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif said those accusations were false and there were no news of any such attacks.
One journalist has even been arrested and another was on the run after a local government official filed a case against them for publishing false information about election irregularities.
Hedayet Hussain Mollah and Rashidul Islam published reports saying more votes had been cast at one constituency in the southeastern Khulna region than the total number of registered voters there.
Mollah was picked up by police on Tuesday afternoon while Islam was on the run, police said. “This is false information that was made intentionally to make the election result look questionable and controversial,” a police report said.
Now what is most regrettable that a few of the Western Countries, instead of Worrying about rectifying wrong doings and Human Rights Violations in their own countries, have condemned elections in Bangladesh.
Since they are not happy with India friendly, Awami League’s victory, they have described a range of irregularities which as per them have marred voting in which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s alliance secured more than 90 percent of parliamentary seats.
Both US and the European Union think or would like to think that their strongly worded assessments of the election could hurt the image of Hasina, who has been in power since 2009 and also ruled from 1996-2001.
“Violence has marred the election day, and significant obstacles to a level playing field remained in place throughout the process and have tainted the electoral campaign and the vote,” the EU said in a statement, calling for “a proper examination of allegations of irregularities”.
The United States, Bangladesh’s largest foreign investor, expressed concern about “credible reports of harassment, intimidation, and violence in the pre-election period that made it difficult for many opposition candidates and their supporters to meet, hold rallies, and campaign freely.
We are also concerned that election-day irregularities prevented some people from voting, which undermined faith in the electoral process,” it said.
However both the People and the Government of India have given their full backing to the People and Government of Bangladesh, so there is nothing to worry. India is not going to permit any interference from any Power in the area of BIMSTEC.
