A section of the foreign observers yesterday said the polls were by and large held in a free and fair manner, but lamented the boycott of the major opposition BNP and the incidents of electoral violence.

Awami League President Sheikh Hasina’s strategy to make the election look competitive worked well, so much so that over a dozen heavyweights came tumbling down yesterday.

Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina directed party leaders and activists not to bring out any victory processions after the declaration of election results.

This election was very difficult for the people to comprehend, said election observer Sharmeen Murshid.

In some constituencies, the voter turnout in the afternoon was supposedly four and a half times that of the morning but it could not go passed 40 percent.

BNP Standing Committee Member Abdul Moyeen Khan yesterday claimed the party’s call for boycotting the 12th parliamentary election was “successful”.

The Jatiya Party suffered a debacle in yesterday’s national polls as it won only 11 seats, sources at the party chairman’s office said.

It was 3:12pm and the voting was well underway at Model High School and College in Jatrabari’s Dania area.

Clashes, attacks on rival camps and crude bomb blasts left one person killed, 50 others injured, marring the 12th national election yesterday.

The final minutes of voting in Dhaka as seen by two journalists

Noor bagged 1,19,339 votes while his nearest rival independent candidate Joynal Abedin secured 15,684 votes

Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury has been elected unofficially from Rangpur 6 constituency.

The opposition leader of the parliament got 81,861 with plough symbol. His nearest rival independent candidate Anwara Islam Rani with eagle symbol got 23,326 votes

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi today congratulated the voters for boycotting the national elections

She bagged 2,49,965 votes in her constituency while her nearest rival M Nizam Uddin Lascar from Bangladesh Supreme Party secured 469 votes

Anisul bagged 2,20,667 votes while his nearest candidate Shaheen Khan from National Peoples Party with mango symbol secured only 6,583 votes

The BCB president got 198,155 votes with boat symbol

The AL chief also instructed the partymen not to engage in any kind of violence or conflict

Leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) allegedly cast multiple votes for the "boat" symbol after forcibly entering the Curzon Hall polling centre at Dhaka University today

The presiding officer of Jhalakathi’s Nalchity upazila has cancelled 54 ballots, alleging that local Magar union parishad (UP) Chairman Md Shahin Hossain forcibly took those ballot papers from the assistant presiding officer and stuffed them into the box