The ruling Awami League President Sheikh Hasina is poised to form the government for the fourth consecutive term after her party secured victory in the 12th parliamentary polls with 222 seats, despite a low voter turnout due to the main opposition, BNP, boycotting the polls.
In the election, the Awami League's (AL) nominated boat candidates secured victories in 222 constituencies, while independent candidates, mostly from AL, won in 62 constituencies, Jatiya Party in 11, and others in three among a total of 299 seats, as the polls for one constituency were suspended earlier.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal announced that around 40% of votes were cast in the election after voting closed at 4:00 pm, while the turnout was 27.15% at 3:00 pm.
In the national election, the total number of voters is 11,93,33,157, with male voters at 6,05,92,169, female voters at 5,87,40,140, and third-gender voters at 848. The election took place for 299 constituencies.
However, Sheikh Hasina secured a landslide victory in the Gopalganj-3 constituency with 249,962 votes. Her nearest rival, Md Atiqur Rahman, only managed to secure 6,999 votes, and another candidate, Mahabur Mollah, received 425 votes.
Sheikh Hasina first assumed the role of prime minister in 1996, leading her party to power after a hiatus of 21 years. Under her leadership, the Awami League (AL) achieved a more than two-thirds majority in the 2008 national polls, dealing a humiliating defeat to its archrival, the BNP. Consequently, Hasina began her second term as the Prime Minister. In 2014, her party maintained its hold on power, securing a landslide victory in the polls despite the BNP-led alliance boycotting the election.
In 2018, Sheikh Hasina formed the government for the third time, even as the BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront and the 20-party alliance boycotted the results, labeling the election as a "night-time election" that witnessed more than 80 percent voter turnout.
The Jatiya Party initially emerged as the main opposition in the 11th parliament. However, the situation has since changed, with the Awami League now allotting only 26 seats to the Jatiya Party and six seats to its 14-Party Alliance partners. Despite this, Jatiya Party candidates participated in the elections in most constituencies with the party's nomination but were only able to secure victory in 11 constituencies.
Subsequently, 28 candidates, including nine from the Jatiya Party, boycotted the 12th national election midway through voting, alleging massive irregularities, fake voting, the takeover of polling centers, and restrictions on agents entering the polling centers.
The Election Commission suspended voting in 21 polling centers across nine constituencies due to reported irregularities and chaos. Mobile courts, led by executive magistrates, sentenced around 20 individuals to different jail terms for their involvement in these incidents.
In a historic move, the Election Commission (EC) cancelled the candidacy of Mustafizur Rahman Chowdhury, the Awami League-nominated candidate and current MP of Chattogram-16 (Banshkhali), for "gross violations of the electoral code of conduct." This marks the first time in the country's history that such action has been taken by the Election Commission.
BNP’s boycott:
On behalf of the main opposition BNP, its senior leader Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan on Sunday congratulated the voters for not going to the polling stations, claiming that their party's call for boycotting the ‘unilateral’ national election was successful.
Talking to reporters at his Gulshan residence, he also said the people of the country rejected the Awami League government through this voter-less election.
“On behalf of not only BNP but also all the 62 political parties who boycotted this farcical election, I salute the people of Bangladesh for the sole reason that they have never compromised on the question of democracy,” the BNP leader said.
