New Voting Begins After Mismanagement in Mock Poll

The Election Commission organised a mock voting exercise in Dhaka as preparation for the 13th national parliamentary election and referendum. Voting began at 8 am on Saturday at four booths of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Government Girls’ High School. However, chaos was observed at the centre within the first hour.

The primary aim of the mock poll was to assess how long it takes to cast votes for both the parliamentary election and the referendum and to identify challenges in the voting process. In the first hour, 23, 37, 27, and 21 voters cast their votes at the four booths respectively. Voters said that while casting votes in the parliamentary ballot was easy, they found the ‘yes/no’ referendum ballot confusing.

Voter Shafiqul Islam said, “There was no proper opportunity to read the referendum ballot. The text was too small, so I marked either a tick or a cross.” Other voters, Abul Kalam and Hafizur Rahman, reported similar difficulties.

One hour into voting, Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md. Sanaullah inspected the centre. Observing the chaotic situation, he expressed displeasure to officials and restarted the voting process by selecting 20 voters each for the male and female booths.

During the mock poll, assistant presiding officers assisted voters with list verification, ballot distribution, sealing, and ink marking. Each voter took an average of one minute.

The referendum ballot included four constitutional amendment proposals requiring a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote, and a separate list was provided for parliamentary candidates and symbols.

Election Commission Secretary Akhtar Ahmed stated, “The mock voting will help evaluate voting duration and the necessary arrangements for effective management.”

Khaborwala/TSN