No visible voter turnout

No crowd or fuss. There was no shortage of security either; but for whom this arrangement is worth seeing, those voters were few. The familiar long queue outside the polling centres beyond the capital went unnoticed.

In areas like Rampura, Banasree, Gulshan, Dhanmondi, and various poling centres in old Dhaka, no long queues of voters were seen. However, no questions were raised regarding the voters. Even the popular Dhaka celebrity candidate, actor Ferdous, could not attract voters.

The polling centre at Ideal School and College in Banasree opened at 10:00am. In this center, the number of male voters is 13,100. In room number 3 of the centre, within the first two hours until 10:00am, out of 539 voters, only nine had come to cast their votes. There was no candidate's agent in the room except for AL’s boat symbol.

The assistant presiding officer of the room said that no candidate's agent had arrived without a boat. In room number 5 of this center, out of 540 voters, 16 people have cast their votes within the first two hours. The situation is similar in other rooms as well, with voter presence ranging from 10 to 20 people.

The presiding officer of the voting centre at Holy Crescent School in Banasree, Dhaka, Asiful Islam, said “There are 3,417 female voters at his center. One hundred individuals have cast their votes seamlessly at 10:00am. In the two rooms of this center, room 1 with 573 voters saw four votes cast by 10:00am, while room 2 with 576 voters had six votes cast during the same period.

The Presiding Officer of Center 61 at Al Furqan School in the capital's Mahanagar Project, AKM Hasan, said at 11:00am that out of 2,561 voters at his center, 61 individuals have cast their votes. However, he said that the number of voters is increasing after 10 o'clock.

Out of 504 voters, 28 votes were cast till 11:30 am in booth number 4 of male centre at Manarat International University Centre in Gulshan of the capital. Presiding officer of the centre Prabir Roy said that 100 out of 2,660 people of his center cast their vote till 10 am.

The Presiding Officer of the women's voting centre at the same centre, Jashim Uddin, said that out of 2,318 voters at his center, 150 individuals have cast their votes. However, no significant voting occurred in the first three hours. Voters started arriving after 11 am.

In the women's voting centre at Azimpur Girls' School and College, within 45 minutes of noon, 24 out of 465 voters in Room 1, 22 out of 459 voters in Room 2, 18 out of 321 voters in Room 3, and 18 out of 330 voters in Room 4 have cast their votes simultaneously, according to the assistant presiding officer.

However, in Room 5 of the male voting center, out of 393 voters, 71 individuals, and in Room 6, out of 400 voters, 55 individuals have cast their votes simultaneously until 1 PM. At Dr. Maleka College in Dhanmondi, in Room 106, out of 468 voters, 38 people have cast their votes by noon, in Room 107, among an equal number of voters, 50 have voted, and in Room 108, also with an equal number of voters, 42 people have cast their votes.

There were supporters for AL’s boat symbol outside the centres in the capital, but no supporters of any other party were seen. Even those who are running as independent candidates have not seen any worker-supporters.