As voter presence remained thin in the Chattogram-10 by-polls, some local mosques started using their loudspeakers to urge voters to go out and cast their votes. This in itself sparked adverse reactions among the locals.
Abbas Uddin, a resident of the neighbourhood, said: “Using mosque microphones for anything other than azan and religious functions is inappropriate."
Most of the mosques that allowed their PA loudspeakers to be used for this purpose were located in the Badurtala Jangi Shah Mazar area of the city.
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Awami League candidate Mohiuddin Bachchu said they are still working hard to bring voters to the centres.
Visiting or passing by many polling centers, people were seen hanging out outside rather than going in to cast their votes.
Some polling booths witnessed zero voters coming through the doors till noon. One of these was booth no 3 at the Power Development Board Government High School polling centre. Not a single vote was cast out of the 391 registered voters at the booth by 12pm, i.e. in four hours since voting started.
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The booth is part of a large centre where the total number of voters is 2,346 across six booths. Apart from the zero votes at booth 3, the other five had not done much better, combining to witness just 50 votes being cast till 12pm.
Presiding officer Pulak Kumar Barua expressed concern over the low voter turnout in the morning, hoping that it would improve as the day progressed.
The assistant presiding officer of booth number 3, Ansar Ullah, said that no one other than the AL candidate had provided polling agents.
No untoward incidents were reported till noon at least, and security forces remained on duty to maintain order.
The Election Commission closely monitored the polls with CC cameras installed in all the centres.
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In this by-poll, the ruling Awami League's candidate, Mohiuddin Bachchu, is competing with the boat symbol, while the Jatiya Party's candidate, Shamsul Alam, is contesting with the plough symbol.
Additionally, Trinamul BNP's Deepak Kumar Palit, Bangladesh Cultural Liberation Jote’s Rashid Mia, independent candidate Md. Armaan Ali, and Manjurul Islam Bhuiyan are also vying for the seat.
The Chittagong-10 seat fell vacant after lawmaker and former primary and mass education minister Dr Afsarul Amin died following a fight with cancer last June.