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Most players kept away from voting

Anisur Rahman and Naimul Karim
Like everything else, sporting activities too took a breather on the day of national elections yesterday. And the action would supposedly encourage athletes to cast their votes. However, going by the trend of majority of the people of the country, several sportspersons, for various reasons, kept away from voting.
National football captain Mamunul Islam, who hails from Chittagong, informed that he could not cast his vote this time because of the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League.
"Elections are being contested in my constituency but I could not vote this time. I have a match tomorrow [Monday, which was later cancelled due to fresh hartal] and it's just not possible for me to go all the way |to Chittagong] and return in time. I however cast my vote in the Chittagong City Corporation elections,” said Mamunul, who is also the captain of Federation Cup winners Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club.
While Mamunul at least had the choice of voting or not, several of his colleagues did not enjoy the rights as their constituencies saw no-contest.
"I belong to the Narayanganj-5 constituency and it was uncontested for. Even if the polls did take place, considering the current scenario, I am not sure if I would have gone.
There needs to be a healthy environment for voting," said national and Abahani defender Wali Faisal, who travelled to Narayanganj from Dhaka to enjoy the one-day rest allowed by his club.
Zahid Hasan Emily shared a similar sentiment. "My constituency, Pirojpur-1, representative was elected unopposed. I voted in the last elections |in 2008]," he said.
The cricketers followed their football friends with regards to participating in the polls.
Spinner Shohag Gazi decided to stay in Dhaka rather than returning to his home district, Patuakhali, for the elections. "As per the current scenario, it was going to be quite difficult to go back home and vote. Also there might be longer version practice games coming ahead," said Shohag.
Slow left-armer Elias Sunny, whose constituency is in Dhaka, too expressed his disappointment on not being able to vote. Sunny's region too was not contested for. "I believe in voting and I did vote in the last national elections as well. It would have been really good if there was a chance this time," rued Sunny.
While majority of the sportsmen did not seem to be able to cast their votes, the number of voters however, is not zero. Recently suspended national hockey players, Rasel Mahmud Jimmy and Zahid Hossain, voted yesterday in their Dhaka-8