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Quiet went the polling

Staff Correspondent
Unlike in the controversial Dhaka-10 by-poll held on July 1, ruling coalition cadres and its adherents had a quiet time at the polling centres yesterday during the voting in Gazipur-2 constituency.
'Hie polling agents of all candidates were present at every centre. "I have never witnessed such a peaceful voting in my life," said a Tongi correspondent of a vernacular daily who visited around a dozen poling centres.
"This is the first time that we could cast vote without fear and hassles," said Abdur Rahim of Tongi Auch Para who cast his vote around 9:00am. Rahim noted the voting was peaceful because both the main rival candidates are strong contenders.
The ballot pits ruling BNP-led four-party alliance candidate MA Mannan against main opposition Awami League’s Zahid Ahsan Russell, also the elder son of assassinated AL lawmaker Ahsanullah Master. The seat fell vacant at the death of Ahsanullah at a rally in Tongi on May 7.
Significant numbers of supporters of the front runners were present at the centres but they remained calm and did not attempt to-create chaos or panic the voters, Rahim, a businessman, said.
Voting started at 8:00am and continued non-stop till 4:00pm, but turnout of voters in many centres were low because many were reluctant to vote in a by-election, according to voters.
Many centres were almost vacant after 11:00am as most voters had cast their votes earlier. The polling officials and agents were having a nap in the chair at some centres. The police, Armed Police Battalion, Dhaka Metropolitan Police and paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles heavily guarded the polling centres. Army patrolled the roads instead of staying put at any particular centre.
Chandna High School centre near Joydevpur crossing had 84 votes of the 450 cast by 9:19am. Voters stood up in long queues in front of every booth. The polling officials told The Daily Star the voting started at 8:00am sharp and there was no untoward incident or report of false vote casting till 9:20am.
Presiding Officer of Deulia Government Primary School centre
Alamgir Hossain said of the 2,238 voters over 200 were cast before 11:00am. As The Daily Star correspondents pointed to a few voters present at the centre, Alamgir said the turnout may gradually increase in the afternoon.
A group of poll observers from the US embassy in Dhaka visited Phool Koli Kindergarten polling centre in Gachha union. "It seems everything is peaceful," said Christopher Gunning, the team leader. After inquiring about the turnout at the centre at around 12:30pm, he came to know that around 40 percent votes had been cast.
The presiding officer of the centre told The Daily Star at the time that voters lined up in long queues in the morning, but since it was lunch time the turnout was thin, which he believed would increase in the afternoon.
Two observers of the Fair Election Monitoring Alliance, who watched the ballot from the beginning to end at the Tongi Government College centre, said they did not notice any irregularities. The centre saw 1,016 of the 2,300 votes cast.