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Turnout test for one-sided polls

AL top brass desperate to get figures better, grassroots see no hope

SHAKHAWAT LlTON and PARTHA Pratim Bhattacharjee
Many grassroots Awami League leaders predict a low voting in tomorrow's election, which will frustrate the ruling party's plan to bank on a good turnout to make the one-sided polls acceptable.
Worried, the AL policymakers have been directing the party candidates and local leaders to make all-out efforts to ensure high voter participation in the 147 (out of
300) constituencies where voting will take place.
In line with the instructions, grassroots leaders have been trying to encourage voters to cast their ballots, only to find a lukewarm response. While many voters fear violence on the polling day, others are not too
enthusiastic about the onesided battle of ballots amid boycott by the BNP-led opposition alliance.
They say people have lost interest in an election that has already seen a record 153 candidates elected uncontested without a single vote cast. This has deprived more than half the country's 9.19 crore voters.
In its own efforts, the AL high command has directed the candidates to spend money, if necessary, to ensure a high turnout, several central AL
leaders told The Daily Star. They spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, and this newspaper could not verify the claim.
But money or no money, even some senior AL leaders are cynical about a turnout of over 35 percent despite their relentless efforts to this end.
Since the first parliamentary election in 1973, the lowest voter turnout was in the one-sided February 1996 election — 26.5 percent - amid boycott by the AL-led opposition parties.
The turnout was 51 percent in another onesided polls held in 1988 during the Ershad-led autocratic government.
There are other factors that may result in a low turnout tomorrow. The BNP-led opposition's indefinite blockade since Wednesday will be in force on the polling day. On top of that, the alliance yesterday called a countrywide 48-hour hartal beginning this morning.
Moreover, the 18-party combine has formed committees in many constituencies to resist the election. In many areas, the opposition activists are discouraging voters to cast their ballots.
Osman Faruk, adviser to the BNP chairperson, told a press conference yesterday: "Party leaders and activists will be assigned at every polling station to make voters keep off."
Contacted, Piarul Islam, general secretary of Gaibandha Sadar municipality unit of AL, said: "Panicked, a large number of voters may not go for voting. We think the turnout will
be between 25 and 30 percent here.
"In Palashbari upazila of Gaibandha-3, where Jamaat-Shibir men attacked the candidate, the turnout may be less than 10 percent."
He added the Islamist party men have unleashed a reign of terror in the area over the past few months in the area. And things may be the same for Gaibandha-1 where Jamaat-Shibir men attacked police stations, killing four policemen in February last year.
Sadek Quraishi, general secretary ofThakurgaon district AL, said, "We did not need to do electioneering for a win. But we did a huge campaign to ensure a good turnout. If necessary, we will arrange transports for the voters."
He said they formed more than a 100 committees comprising local leaders and activists to bring voters to the polling stations and resist the opposition's attempt to prevent voters from casting votes.
Cox's Bazar district AL acting president AK Ahmed Hossain said they, too, expected a
poor turnout, though they were trying to encourage voters to go voting.
Bhola district AL President Fazlul Kader Majnu and Khulna district AL President Sheikh Harun-or-Rashid echoed his view.
"We've told our party men and supporters that they must vote. Now our target is to bring the neutral voters to the polling booths," said Afzalul Karim, general secretary of Barisal city AL.
Momtaz Uddin, president of Bogra AL, said the race in his district was between Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Jatiya Party (Manju). "So you've to understand how the election will be, I needn't say anything."
In some areas, AL dissidents may emerge as blessings for the AL to ensure a good turnout.
However, AL Organising Secretary Khalid Mahamud Chowdhury said, "Conspiracies were hatched in and outside the country to foil the election. So our main target is to hold the election, not a high voter turnout."