Sylhet's low turnout makes even Dhaka look good

A deserted look of Govt Pilot High School polling centre in Sylhet city Photo:TBS

In the 12th national polls, Dhaka's 17 city corporation seats witnessed an average of 16.97% turnout as of 2pm on Sunday, slightly beating Sylhet-1's meagre 14% turnout, according to the Election Commission's smart app data.

The average voter turnout in Rangpur City's polling stations was 18.41% and in Chattogram City's polling stations was 21.68%.

Khulna city's polling centres saw the highest 29.74% turnout among the divisional city seats as of 2pm on Sunday.

Among the divisional cities, polling stations in the Sylhet-1 constituency saw the lowest voter turnout. However, despite having the largest number of parliamentary seats, Dhaka saw the lowest turnout in the polling centres of two of its city corporation polling stations, EC app data shows.

Apart from this, the polling stations of Barishal, Rajshahi, Sylhet, and Mymensingh, which have one parliamentary seat each, saw an average of 23.49% voter turnout.

Kishori Mohan Girls High School polling station in Sylhet Sadar was found empty during a visit today. Photo: TBS

The overall voter turnout was higher in polling stations of districts, upazilas or villages as compared to city stations. In some parliamentary constituencies, almost 50% of votes were cast as of 2pm on Sunday. Among them, 53% of votes were cast in Naogaon-1, 49% in Faridpur-2 and 48% in Bhola-4 seats.

In a media briefing at 3pm on Sunday, the Election Commission said 26.37% of votes were cast across the country. But in cities, this rate is 19.80%.

The presence of media workers and local and foreign observers was high in the capital's polling stations.

After polling booths opened for voting at 8am, Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cast her vote at the Dhaka City College polling centre at 8:03am.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal cast his vote at the Habibullah Bahar College Centre in Shantinagar of the capital at 8:35am.

Voter turnout was low in Dhaka-17 constituency, a posh area in the capital's Banani. As of 2pm, 14% of the voters in this constituency had cast their votes, according to EC app data. Similarly, turnout in Gulshan and Dhanmondi polling stations was also low.

A significant presence of Awami League leaders and activists was observed outside and inside polling stations at various centres across the country, including the capital. 

Though polling agents for Awami League candidates were present in booths, the same was not observed for all booths and all candidates from other parties or independents. 

Notably, female voter turnout appeared relatively high.

The law-and-order situation remained stable in major cities and divisional towns during the polling day. 

While no major incidents occurred, security personnel, including police and Executive Magistrates, were actively engaged in safeguarding the electoral process at polling stations nationwide.

Out of 44 political parties registered with the Election Commission, 16 parties, including the BNP, were out of the electoral race that had around 12 crore voters listed.

Though there are 300 constituencies, the EC postponed the election for Naogaon-2 constituency following the death of an independent candidate. A fresh schedule for the seat will be announced soon.