The excruciating search for an 'excited' voter

It was around 8:30am. As I began my walk from Mohakhali Amtoli Circle towards Gulshan, I felt a few raindrops falling on my hair. Though the rain did not start pouring down in full force, the sky looked overcast, and the sun was nowhere to be found.

It was a beautiful day indeed. The road was nearly empty, having only one-fourth of the total pedestrians it usually has around this time on a normal day. 

But it was not a normal day. It was the day of the by-election in the Dhaka-17 constituency, that prompted the Ministry of Public Administration to announce a general holiday along with restrictions on vehicular movement in some parts of Gulshan, Banani,  Baridhara, and Cantonment areas.

It was a day when all the ingredients were kept in place to make the day a grand affair for the people of the most affluent parliamentary constituency in the country. 

However, I was not quite ready for whatever I witnessed afterwards throughout the day. 

Instead of a celebratory atmosphere, there hung a plain indifference, with many turning their back on the event and already waiting for "the real deal" which will take place early next year.  

Photo: TBS

'Just like a regular Friday' 

Only a few minutes ago, I had an argument with my Pathao rider, for he did not want to take me through this road, in spite of me having a press card. "I might enter the street now, but how would I safely exit without your card?" he reasoned. 

I realised what made him so wary immediately. There was a police check post ahead to stop all sorts of vehicles including motorbikes. In front of me, some were also fined for entering the street and failing to show any valid reason behind their movement on a 'holiday'. 

Soon, I reached the Government Titumir College, one of the most important polling centres in the vicinity under Ward-20. I had anticipated seeing a long queue of voters at the main entrance of the institution. But what I found out instead took me by surprise. 

There were hundreds of young polling agents scattered in front of the college, most of them with ID cards on behalf of the Awami League candidate, Professor Mohammad Ali Arafat. 

But there wasn't any sign of voters. I stood there for nearly half an hour, but in-between that period, only a handful of voters turned up to cast their votes. 

"There was a time when election days felt like Eid days. But nowadays they have become like regular Fridays with not many people on the streets,"  rued Hasibur Rahman, one of the voters after coming out of the centre. 

Photo: TBS

'More caps than crops' 

From Titumir Government College, I went to the Gulshan Model School and College centre under Ward-18, where I met an elderly voter, Mukhshedur Rahman. 

When I asked what he thought about the election, he replied to me with another question: "Have you read Syed Waliullah's 'Lalsalu'?" As a matter of fact, it was a part of our syllabus for the HSC exam, and I nodded. 

"There's a line in that novel that 'there are more caps than crops,' and today you can see the same," he said.  

When I pondered about it, it turned out that indeed the same could quite aptly be applied to describe the day's scenario as well. 

Not only in Government Titumir College, but on my way to other polling centres and inside them, I found a similar trend: there were way too many of the 'other people', instead of voters.  

I walked from Titumir College to Gulshan-2, and during that four-kilometre walk, I went past nearly 500 members of armed forces, including police, BGB, RAB and Ansar. 

Also, outside the Gulshan Model School and College, there were local Awami League leaders and their polling agents in hundreds, while on the school premise, there were at least 70-80 journalists from different media outlets, all eagerly waiting to see if the 'posh' people of the neighbourhood were coming to cast votes.

Another reason behind such a crowd in this institution was the impending appearance of the Awami League candidate Arafat to cast his own vote. 

He was supposed to arrive at 10am, but he was more than an hour late. Eventually, as soon as he arrived, all the journalists thronged around him, desperate to get a glimpse and a 'bite' of Bangladesh's very own Shashi Tharoor.

But ironically, in the first two hours after 8am, this centre saw casting of only 10 votes, despite being the centre of the ruling party's candidate. 

Photo: TBS

'Futile for five months'

Almost an identical situation was discovered in the next two centres I visited: Kalachandpur Government Primary School under Ward-18 and Green Heaven International School under Ward-15. 

The only difference was that at these venues, journalists were less in numbers but polling agents more than enough to make up for them. But as usual, the voter turnout was very low. 

I wondered what the reason could be for such a low turnout of voters, and through my interactions with several voters, a common pattern emerged.

"This election seems meaningless. Whoever wins it will be an MP for just five months. What's the point of this?," questioned Mofizur Rahman, a voter from Kalachandpur. 

Another voter, Monira Begum from Manikdi, also reiterated the same. "How can one be motivated to cast a vote if the winner doesn't remain in power for a longer period?"  

There may be other reasons as well, but the fact that this by-election has an expiry date of only five months is really a big turn off for many. 

The Dhaka-17 seat became vacant following the death of popular actor and freedom fighter, Akbar Hossain Pathan Farooque on 14 May this year.

"The general election in January next year will be the real deal. You won't see such indifference from the people then," predicted Monira Begum.

'Hero Alom's popularity will further increase' 

Another thing that made the by-election less interesting is its lack of competition. 

Especially the Awami League supporters and its polling agents were firm in their opinion that it's a "one-horse race" with Arafat all set to have his crowning moment by the end of the day.  

While that may not be 100% true with there being a significant craze about the popular content creator and actor Hero Alom, it really turned out that many voters were not much familiar with other candidates. 

"I only know Arafat and Hero Alom. They are popular faces whom I have seen many times on TV or Facebook. I don't know others. Who are they?" asked Khadiza Akhter, a voter from Manikdi. 

Hero Alom previously came close to becoming member of parliament on multiple occasions, with the last time losing by only 834 votes in Bogura-4 constituency. 

"I believe Hero Alom has a bigger chance this time. He could be like one of those Bollywood heroes who went on to become national leaders from simple common men," Khadiza said smiling. 

While I was having this conversation with her at around 3:45 pm, news broke that Hero Alom had been at the polling centre in Banani's Bidyaniketan School and College grounds about an hour ago. 

"Look, how his popularity skyrockets even further after this!" announced many around us upon hearing the news.