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JP’s Mostafa wins, AL polls
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polling centres.
Malfunctioning Electronic Voting Machines slowed down polling to such an extent that polling at some centres went on until around 7:30pm, nearly three hours past the deadline.
However, no major incident of violence, vote rigging, or the use of muscle power was reported.
Even though only those who appear at the polling centre within the deadline get to vote as per electoral rule, hundreds of voters were seen in queues at different polling stations in the evening.
CEC Habibul told reporters that the large voter turnout and fingerprint mismatches caused the delay. Around half the votes were cast until 4:00pm, he added.
“EMVs are slow in comparison to ballot papers,” he said at the EC office in the capital yesterday.
The Daily Star correspondents visited over a dozen polling centres in the Jatiya Party stronghold and found technical glitches at all of them.
At least 20 voters said they had to wait for hours to cast votes. Some voters said they could not vote at all as the machines did not recognise their fingerprints.
Mostafizar said he had to wait for almost half an hour to cast his vote.
“I will talk to the returning officer about this matter. EMVs are not working in two booths,” Mostafizar told reporters outside Alamnagar Collegepara Government Primary School polling centre.
“Voters will lose their confidence in the EMVs,” he said.
Marjina Mahbub, 20, who went to the centre around 8:30am and waited there for an hour before officials told her that the machine could not read her fingerprint.
Presiding Officer Asaduzzaman said two machines were malfunctioning at the centre.
Another constituent, Naya Mia, 65, told The Daily Star that he waited at RPMP School and College from 9:00am to 4:00pm, but still couldn’t vote.
At Rangpur Lions and School and College, these correspondents found that only 80 votes were cast in the first two and a half hours.
Presiding Officer Shah Alam said, “The EVMs take a long time. Besides, voters are not familiar with the devices.”
Mostafizar met Returning Officer Baten at the latter’s office around 2:00pm and expressed his concerns over the EVMs.
He added that he had found EVM glitches in 24 polling centres.
However, AL candidate Hosne Dalia told reporters at Lions School and College in the morning that she did not face any problems.
“The voting atmosphere is excellent. The city dwellers are coming to the polling stations to cast their votes with enthusiasm. Some people are spreading propaganda about the EVMs,” she said.
Baten told reporters around noon that he received complaints about fingerprint mismatches of “some” voters.
This is the third election since the city corporation was formed in 2012. The corporation has 33 wards and 183 councillor posts.

Ex-South Korean president Lee granted special pardon
REUTERS, Seoul
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday granted a special pardon to former President Lee Myung-bak, who was convicted of corruption and other charges and who has in recent years been suffering from poor health.
Lee, 81, who was president from 2008 to 2013, has been serving a 17-year sentence for corruption, embezzlement and bribery since 2018, though he has often been released temporarily for medical treatment.
In June, prosecutors suspended Lee’s imprisonment, upon his request, citing his deteriorating health.
The pardon, effective on Wednesday, will cancel the remaining 15 years of jail.
Lee was initially expected to be pardoned in August when Yoon first exerted his clemency power after taking office in May.
Lee is the fourth former South Korean president to be jailed. His successor, Park Geun-hye, was imprisoned in connection with a corruption scandal that ended her presidency in 2017.
She was pardoned by Yoon’s predecessor in late 2021 after nearly five years in prison.