Polling in Bangladesh was held on Sunday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Awami League-led alliance Monday swept to a landslide victory in the general elections, winning 288 seats in the 300-member Parliament.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling alliance Monday swept to a landslide victory in the general elections, securing a third straight term, an outcome that would be good news for India's ties with Dhaka, especially on the national security front.
One man who lost and was unhappy was Ashraful Alom, known popularly as Hero Alom who is quite a meme sensation in Bangladesh and India.
Polling in Bangladesh was held on Sunday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Awami League-led alliance Monday swept to a landslide victory in the general elections, winning 288 seats in the 300-member Parliament.
Read: Detailed Result Reactions
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All pictures from Hero Alom's Facebook page
1. Hero Alom upset
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He claimed that the Grand Alliance kept his agents out of the polling centres and accused Awami League-led Grand Alliance candidate AKM Rezaul Karim Tansen’s supporters of stopping his agents and throwing them out of polling booths.
2. 638 votes
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Alom, who contested on a lion symbol, only managed to get 638 votes in the Bogra 4 constituency.
He said: “I am an independent candidate, and yet, the grand alliance candidate is afraid that I would win the election and for that, they have kicked out my agents from the polling centres and prevented voters from voting for me.”
3. Won’t give back deposit
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He demanded a re-election, blamed the Election Commission and refused to return his security deposit. He said: “If there was a fair election, I would have become the MP. As I was not allowed to vote, therefore, they do not have to return my money.”
4. BNP candidate wins from the seat
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Interestingly, BNP candidate Mosharraf Hossain won the seat with 148,585 votes while the Grand Alliance candidate Rezaul Karim Tansen came second with 86,048 votes.
It was one of the five seats BNP won.
5. Mortaza wins
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Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza has registered a landslide victory in the 11th general elections, becoming the first active cricketer in the country to be elected as a lawmaker.
Mortaza, an Awami League candidate for Narail-2 constituency, got 274,418 votes while his rival Jatiya Oikya Front alliance nominee Fariduzzaman Farhad received 8,006 votes, according to the results announced by the Election Commission.
The total number of votes in the Narail-2 constituency is 317, 844. Mortaza's vote share amounts to over 96 per cent, the Dhaka Tribune reported.
The 35-year-old pacer, known as the 'Narail Express', is the second national cricket team captain after Naimur Rahman Durjoy to become an MP. He is the first active player to achieve the honour, the report said.
Mortaza filed his nomination last month. He became the first-ever sitting cricketer to try his luck in national politics.
6. Opposition alliance calls poll farcical
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The opposition alliance, comprising jailed ex-premier Khaleda Zia's BNP and some small parties, rejected the poll outcome as "farcical" and demanded fresh election. The Election Commission, however, ruled out holding a fresh election.
The Awami League-led Grand Alliance won 288 seats in the 300-member Parliament. The ruling alliance, which got nearly 82 per cent of the total votes polled, bettered its previous best performance of 2008 when it bagged 263 seats.
The opposition Jatiya Oikya Front - National Unity Front (NUF) - secured seven seats with over 15 per cent of the votes, Election Commission secretary Helaluddin Ahmed said, adding that others won three seats.
Voting was postponed in one constituency and result not declared in another due to the death of a candidate, he said.
Source: PTI
7. CEC rules out repoll
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The CEC expressed complete satisfaction over the election and said the voter turnout in the polls was 80 per cent.
Responding to the vote-rigging allegations, Awami League Joint General Secretary Abdur Rahman said foreign and domestic observers have expressed satisfaction over the election process and declared that it was held in a fair environment.
With the overwhelming majority in the 11th general elections, Hasina is set to take office of the prime minister for the third consecutive time and fourth time overall.
Source: AFP
8. Historic fourth term
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Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh's founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is termed by many as the country's iron lady. She won the historic fourth term as prime minister, becoming the country's longest-serving leader.
The BNP, which has been out of power for 12 years and had boycotted the 10th general elections in 2014, is part of the opposition alliance.
The EC said they have received over a hundred complaints from candidates throughout the country amid reports of violence.
At least 18 people, including a member of a security agency, have been killed and more than 200 others injured in poll-related violence, making it one of the deadliest polls in the country, the Daily Star reported.
Over 600,000 security personnel including several thousand soldiers and paramilitary border guards were deployed across the nation for the election in which 10.41 crore people were eligible to vote
